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SELECT DOCUMENTS IN

Australian History

1788-1850

-^bOel^nd Edited by

G. M. H. CLARK

Professor of History, Canberra University College

With the Assistance ^ L. J. PRYOR

ANGUS AND ROBERTSON

SYDNEY • LONDON • MELBOURNE • WELLINGTON

^irst Published ig^o
Reptinted 1955

SET IN MONOTYPE BASKERVILLE
PRINTED AND BOUND BY HALSTEAD PRESS, SYDNEY
REGISTERED IN AUSTRALIA TOR TRANSMISSION THROUGH THE POST AS A BOOK

C ONTENTS

Introduction

Section L THE BRITISH BACKGROUND

Introductory Note 1

A. Economic Conditions 1

B. Social Conditions .7

C. Criminal Code 10

D. The Prisons 18

Section 2. THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

Introductory Note 24

A. First Proposals for a Settlement in New South Wales 25

B. Botany Bay Selected by British Government 33

C. The First Fleet 41

D. The First Five Years 44

{a) Selection of Site at Port Jackson 44

{b) The Environment 46

{c) Organizing a New Community 47

{d) The Human Material — The Leaders 50

{e) The Human Material — ^The Convicts 52

(/) The Struggle for Survival — Food, Health and

Communications 56

{g) The Need for Free Settlers 63

(A) The Aborigines 65

(i) Retrospect 69

E. Norfolk Island 74

F. Van Diemen’s Land 74

G. Moreton Bay 77

H. Swan River 79

I. Port Phillip , 89

CONTENTS

Section 3. TRANSPORTATION

Introductory Note

103

British Law on Transportation

104

The Hulks

106

The Journey

110

Disembarking the Convicts

115

Female Convicts

117

Convicts in Government Service

120

The Assignment System

128

Tickets of Leave

133

The Emancipist and the Expiree

137

J-

The Punishment of Convicts

140

Transportation as a Punishment and a Cause of
Reformation

146

The Abolition of Transportation to New South Wales
in 1840

153

Experiments in Penal Reform

156

Arguments for and against Transportation to Eastern
Australia

160

The Effect of Transportation on Australian Society

165

Section 4. IMMIGRATION

Introductory Note

169

I. Immigration into Eastern Australia —

Potential Migrants from Great Britain

170

The Labour Problem in the Australian Colonies

173

The Ideas of the Systematic Colonizers

176

Government Assistance for Migrants

181

The Selection of Migrants

193

The Reception of Migrants

197

IL South Australia —

The Foundation

203

The Selection of Migrants

208

Early History of the Colony

209

CONTENTS vii

Appendix

1. Statistics on Migration from the United Kingdom,

1825-51 214

2. Statistics on Migration to Van Diemen’s Land, 1830-50 215

Section 5. LAND POLICY

Introductory Note 2 1 7

A. The Land Grants ’ 218

B. The Case for a Minimum Upset Price 2^

C. The Attempts to Prevent Dispersion 225

D. The Minimum Upset Price and Leases 228

E. The Order in Council, 1847 252

Section 6. THE SQUATTERS

Introductory Note 267

I. The Early History of the Wool Industry —

A. The Work of John Macarthur 267

B. The Market for Australian Wool 270

IL The Life of the Squatter —

C. The Preparation 271

D. The Station 274

E. Work 277

F. Leisure 283

G. Dangers and Hardships 288

H. The Grown Lands’ Commissioners 294

I. Costs and Profits 296

Section 7. CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

Introductory Note 301

A. New South Wales, 1 787- 1 842 302

B. Van Diemen’s Land, 1803-42 340

G. Western Australia, 1829-50 345

D. South Australia, 1834-42 351

E. The Separation of Port Phillip, 1 840-50 358

F. The Passing of the Australian Colonies Government

Act, 1844-50 365

Vlll

CONTENTS

Section 8. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

Introductory Note

387

A. Finance

388

B, Whaling

392

C. Farming

397

D. Population

405

E. Classes and Class Relations

410

F. Masters and Servants

415

Cj, Town Life

422

H. Leisure

428

1. Australian Behaviour

434

Appendix —

A Note on Sources

440

Index

445

Introduction

The case for a book of documents on Australian history for use in
schools and Universities is so strong that it scarcely requires
justification. The published collections are either too large or toc^
slight. The unpublished documents are housed in such diverse
places that they are almost inaccessible to most students, and, even
when they are accessible, the task of finding the material is so
mysterious and exhausting that only the zealots sustain the quest.
Yet it is in the study of Australian history that the student has the*
opportunity to abandon dependence on the opinions of other
historians, to read the original material, in short, to be a historian.
This is an exciting experience; it is also an essential part of the
apprenticeship of both students and potential historians. It is
hoped that this book will give this experience to those who are
beginning the serious study of Australian history.

It is perhaps worth emphasizing that this book is prepared mainly
for such students, though the general reader will find, I hope,
material that will strengthen his understanding of Australian
society. It is certainly not a book for the specialist, though in the
notes and the Appendix an attempt is made to indicate sources for
other material, and where such sources may be found. Still, for the
main part, this book only attempts to sketch the broad outlines,
and, in so doing, it may well blur or distort some of the detail.
The student who wishes to specialize may use this material as an
introduction, but, for an exhaustive treatment of his subject, he
will need to use the bibliographies referred to in the Appendix, and
the catalogues of the Public Libraries of Australia.

Perhaps some explanation and justification of the method of
arranging the documents is called for. The chronological method
was rejected mainly because it is so unsatisfactory for teaching
purposes. The method adopted, a section on each major topic,
will, I hope, be most convenient for teaching. Still there may be
criticism, and even indignation at the choice of these topics.

X Jntrodugtion

To such a response I can only plead the great difficulty of ever
securing agreement on such a choice among teachers and students
with veryi diverse interests and values. To blunt the edge of such^
remarks I have tried to select documents that contain the evidence
for the main opinions on the interpretation of Australian history,
to refrain from using controversial words or phrases in headings,
and, in general, to suppress any personal preferences or prejudices.
It is, of course, true that not one of these topics can be studied in
isolation. A decision on land policy, for example, will generally
affect immigration, labour, the squatters, and even politics. But
still, such a division should not make the general picture unintell-
igible, and it is possible for the teacher to make his own arrangement :
to shuffle the cards to suit his own method of playing.

Two other facts in the selection call for comment. Documents
on exploration by sea and land have been omitted, not as a gesture
against the excessive emphasis on these topics by some historians,
but because there is already a published collection of such documents
in two volumes by the late Sir Ernest Scott. The section on economic
and social conditions is rather slight, partly because the material is
so vast that the topics cannot be adequately illustrated in the few
pages available, and partly because the statistical material — on
wages, prices, rents etc. — has yet to be sifted by scholars with the
necessary qualifications. Until that is done publication of these
figures may tempt the unwary to wild generalizations on the early
social history of Australia.

This volume ends at 1850. The present plan is to publish a
second volume on the period between 1850 and 1940.

It remains to acknowledge the assistance received from various
persons and institutions. Perhaps such public recognition is all too
inadequate where the need for help was so great, and the response
so generous. The majority of the documents were copied in the
Melbourne Public Library and the Mitchell Library, Sydney, and
it is appropriate that they should come first. In particular my debt
to Mr K. A. Lodewyckx, of the Melbourne Public Library, is very
great. The following also helped greatly either in finding material
not available in Melbourne, or in persuading research committees
to provide expenses for the work, or in giving time to discuss the

INTRODUCTION'

project and make helpful suggestions E. Clark, N. Ebbels,
R. M. Hartwell, S. M. Ingham, Miss L Leeson, Miss M. Lukis and
Or E. O’Brien. F, K. Crowley prepared the population* charts in
Section 8 , and, as a result of his own work on working-class
conditions, was able to draw my attention to useful manuscript
material in the Mitchell Library. Miss L. Foley typed the present
manuscript. Miss J. Fullard and Miss S. Reynolds typed earlier
drafts. For permission to publish extracts from G. F. James
(Editor) : A Homestead History I am indebted to the Melbourne
University Press.

It is fitting to add that three people had quite an intimate
association with the production of the book. Professor R. M. Craw-
ford obtained useful financial assistance from the University of
Melbourne, and gave that encouragement which helps oAe to keep
working. My wife, Dymphna Clark, helped in the collection of
material at the Mitchell Library, greatly lightened the burden
of copying, and did all the things that cause authors to value their
wives. Mr L. J. Pryor was to have been the joint editor of the work,
but, unfortunately for the book, he had to leave for England before
the work was half completed. Still, his contribution was considerable
— in collecting material, preparing a draft of the first two sections,
and compiling the index. Perhaps the quaintest debt is to the
Melbourne Public Library, and this debt is not only to the vast
collection of books, official documents, newspapers etc., but also to
something rather difficult to express in words. It may seem odd that
such an institution should be a spur to industry, and a source of
pleasure, but I have found it to be so, and I hope that these
documents may cause others to come under its spell.

University of Melbourne,
October^ ig48.

C. M. H. Clark.

Abbreviations Used in the Text

App. : Appendix.

Bigge : State of N.S.W. : Bigge, J. : Report of the Commissioner
of Inquiry into the State of the Colony of New South
Wales.

Bigge: Agriculture and Trade: Bigge, J. : Report of the
Commissioner of Inquiry on the State of Agriculture and
Trade in the Colony of New South Wales.

Bigge: Judicial Establishments: Bigge, J. : Report of the
Commissioner of Inquiry on the Judicial Establishments
of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land.

C,J. Journals of the House of Commons.

Enc. : Enclosure.

Ev. : Evidence.

H.R.A. : Historical Records of Australia. ^

H.R.N.S. W. : Historical Records of New South Wales.

MSS. : Manuscripts.

Pari. Hist. : Parliamentary History.

P.P. : Parliamentary Papers. ^

S. : Section.

V. and P. of the Legis. Coun. of N.S. W. : Votes and Proceedings
of the Legislative Council of New South Wales.

^ The method of reference used is H.R.A., then the serial number, then the
volume number, and then the pages, namely, H.R.A. I, 10, pp. 11-12.

^ The method of reference used is to give the title of the paper, the page number
in the paper, then P.P., then the volume number, and finally the paper number,
namely, Report of the Select Committee on Transportation, p. 3. P.P. 1812, II, 341.

Section 1

THE BRITISH BACKGROUND

A. Economic Conditions. C. Criminal Code.

B. Social Conditions. D, The Prisons.

The first settlement of Australia by Europeans was an episode
in British History. The prisons and hulks of England could no
longer contain the men and women convicted of crimes ; crime
was on the increase^ the penal policy of the time lacked system
and principle, prisons were dilapidated and ill-managed, and
the American colonies were no longer available for the
reception of convicts whose crimes were punishable by trans-
portation.

The background to this problem is found in the economic and
social conditions of England in the second half of the eighteenth
century. The documents in this section do not portray adequate-
ly the exact nature of these conditions, but they should at
least illustrate the social consequences of economic changes
and the relationship between poverty, ignorance, a harsh
penal code and crime statistics.

For a more comprehensive documentary survey of the
British background to the foundation of Australia see A, E.
Bland, P. A. Brown and R. H. Tawney: English Economic
History: Select Documents, For a comment on these conditions
see E. O’Brien: The Foundation of Australia^ Pt 1, Chs. 1-4, and
B. Fitzpatrick : British Imperialism and Australia^ Ch. 1 .

A. Economic Conditions

1. The Effects of Enclosure. 1791 c.

(A. Young: Tours in England and Wales, pp. 205-6.)

About St. Neot’s a vast improvement by an inclosure, which
took place 16 years ago, which makes the country much more
beautiful, and has been a great benefit to the community. A
gentleman of the town however complained, as I rode thither with
him, that, notwithstanding the productiveness of the soil was
certainly greater, yet that the poor were ill-treated by having about
half a rood given them in lieu of a cow keep, the inclosure of which
land costing more than they could afford, they sold the lots at £5

2 SELECl nOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

the money was drank out at the ale-house, and the men, spoiled by
the habit, came, with their families, to the parish ; by which means
poor rates^had risen from 2s. 6d. to 3s. and 3s. 6d. But pray, sir, have
not rates arisen equally in other parishes, where no inclosnre.has*
taken place? Admitted. And what can be the good of commons
which would not prevent poor rates coming to such a height?
Better modes of giving the poor a share might easily, and have been,
as in other cases, adopted.

St. Neot’s, which enjoys the various advantages of the fine river
Ouse, has a very great corn-market; so many as 1100 sacks of wheat
"have been pitched on the market-hill in one day, as it is not sold by
sample. Mutton here cheaper than beef, which is not common.
Wool last year 22s. 6d. expected now to be dearer! Land through
the country sells now at 26 years purchase, some at 27, and even
to 28. Rents undoubtedly rising, average of the line about 10s.
No manufacture in the town, but population increases.

2. Another Comment on the Effects of Enclosure. 1786 c.

(Anonymous: Cursory Remarks on Inclosures ^ shewing the pernicious and
destructive consequences of inclosing common fields^ &c.^ By a Country
Farmer, loc. cit.)

The practice of inclosing common fields, has been pursued with
unremitting ardour for about sixty years last past, under the specious
pretence of improvement, but in fact to the great injury of the
public in general, and the utter ruin of thousands of individuals in
particular, and an advantage to none, except a few land-owners,
and they often disappointed in their hope of gain by the vast
expense attending the putting their project into execution (p. 1).

... to obtain an act of parliament to inclose a common field two
witnesses are produced to swear that the lands thereof, in their
present state, are not worth occupying; though at the same time
they are lands of the best soil in the kingdom, and produce corn in
the greatest abundance, and of the best quality. And by inclosing
such lands, they are generally prevented from producing any corn
at all, as the land-owner converts twenty small farms into -about four
large ones, and at the same time the tenants of those large farms are
tied down in their leases not to plough any of the premises so let to
farm, by which means several hundred villages, that forty years ago
contained between four and five hundred inhabitants, very few
now will be found to exceed eighty, and some not half that number;
nay some contain only one poor old decrepid man or woman, hired
by the occupiers of the lands who live in another parish, to prevent
their being obliged to pay towards the support of the poor of the
next parish (pp. 2-3).

THE BRITISH BAGKOPROUNJi 3 ,

. . . the old and infirm fall a burthen to the parish they belong till
^Death’s merciful hand puts a period to their miserable existence,
and by degrees easeth the parish of its burden, which in a few years
is generally accomplished, as the young and healthy have dispersed
themselves; those that could pay their passage having transported
themselves to America; and many of those who could not pursue
that method for want of money to answer the purpose, have actually
sold themselves for three years to supply that deficiency, and to free
themselves from a country where Hunger, the worst of human
misfortunes, stared them in the face, and all means of satisfying
that craving appetite, even in a land of plenty, totally obliterated.

The young that are left to be brought up in those parishes are,
when grown to maturity, obliged to pursue the same course, or
join their fellow-parishioners (who had neither ability nor spirit to
voluntarily transport themselves) in forming troops of the most
abandoned thieves that ever disgraced any civilized country, arid
glut the gallows with food, and freighting our ships to the coast of
Africa at every returning session, and leaving at the same time a
crouded prison to be disposed of in the same manner, or for ballast
heaving on the river Thames (pp. 4-6) .

... Many of the small farmers who have been thus deprived of their
livelihood, have sold their stock in trade, and have raised from fifty
to five hundred pounds, with which they have procured themselves,
their families, and money, a passage to America, with hearts full of
resentment against a legislature who had thus cruelly deprived them
of the means of providing for themselves and families in their native
country. No wonder then that the British arms were so unsuccessful
on that continent in the late impolitic contest there.

There are another kind of people which are generally greatly
injured by inclosing: which are those who have small landed
property in such parishes who are allured by the prospect of gain to
enter readily into the measure, while others have been reluctant,
foreseeing the consequences, yet, through promises, fair speeches,
or threats, have been brought to comply with the rest in their own
destruction; and having little or no money to prosecute such an
undertaking, are obliged to have recourse to the pernicious practice
of borrowing, and never fail of meeting with a lender in the chief
proprietor of lands in the parish, whose sole view at first setting out
was to get the land of the whole parish into his own hands.

The first step to this is to advance money on the mortgage of these
small parcels of land, which in a few years (principal and interest)
never fails to eat them up, and turns the owners a-drift to shift for
themselves how and where they can, without land or money, to
procure them food, some whom, who but a fdw years since lived

4 SELECT DQGUME^TS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

comfortably, free, and easy upon their small patrimony, are now by
the above means driven to the earning of their bread by working for
six shillings a week when they can get employment; others, who have
had a little left over- and above what has satisfied their avaricious
lender, have ventured on the method of making a voyage to America,
hoping thereby to secure to themselves a patrimony in a more
hospitable country.

Neither is this all the inconveniency and hurt to the country; the
diminution of the specie which those emigrants take with them is a
great injury to circulation, as there cannot be less than a deficiency
of 500,000 caused by this means within fifty years last past,
while that deficiency is replaced by nothing but what may be blown
away like chaff before the wind, and very likely, sooner or later,
may be of less value, unless to light a pipe. It cannot be supposed
that emigration is confined to husbandmen alone, but some of our
artificers must have pursued the same plan, and no doubt but in
time we shall bear the bad effects of it, by finding that America will
manufacture those goods for herself which she used to import from
hence, to the great injury of the trade of Great Britain, if not the
total ruin of it; as in that country a working man may live for about
one third of what he could live for here, and must flourish many
years, before their taxes in that part of the world rise to one fourth
part of what they are here at this present time; so that in a short time
they bid fair to out-strip all European nations, in most kinds of
manufactories, Nature having provided them with all the materials
necessary for the purpose (pp. 7-9).

3. Conditions in Rural and Urban Areas. 1787 c.

(Rev. David Davies: The Case of Labourers in Husbandry stated and
considered, loc. cit.)

In visiting the labouring families of my parish [i.e. Barkham,
Berkshire], as my duty led me, I could not but observe
with concern their mean and distressed condition. I found them in
general but indifferently fed; badly clothed; some children without
shoes and stocking; very few put to school; and most families in
debt to little shopkeepers. In short, there was scarcely any appear-
ance of comfort about their dwellings, except that the children
looked tolerably healthy. Yet I could not impute the wretchedness
I saw either to sloth or wastefulness. For I knew that the farmers
were careful that the men should not want employment: and had
they been given to drinking, I am sure I should have heard of it ... .

These poor people, in assigning the cause of their misery, agree
in ascribing it to the high prices of the necessaries of life. ‘‘Everything
(said they) is so dear, that we can hardly live” (p, 6),

THE BRITISH B ACKG^IOUNI^

Weekly Income and Expenditure of a Labouring Family in
Parish of Barkham, Berkshire. Easter 1787.

^eekly Expences of a Family, consisting of a Man and his Wife, and fi^e Children,
the eldest eight years of age, the youngest an Infant.

FLOUR: H gallons, at lOd. per gallon . .

Yeast, to make it into bread, 2Jd; and salt l^d.

Bacon, 1 lb. boiled at two or three times with greens: the pot-liquor,
with bread and potatoes, makes a mess for the children . .

Tea, 1 ounce, 2d.; f lb. sugar, 6d.; \ lb. butter or lard 4d.

Soap, ^ lb. at 9d. per lb. . .

Gandies, i lb. one week with another at a medium, at 9d.

Thread, thrum, and worsted, for mending apparel, &c.

Total

Weekly Earnings of the Man and his Wife, viz. . .

The man receives the common weekly wage 8 months in the year
By task-work the remaining 4 months he earns something more; hia
extra earnings, if equally divided among the 52 weeks in the year,
would increase the weekly wages about
The wife’s common work is to bake bread for the family, to wash and
mend ragged clothes, and to look after the children ; but at bean-
setting, hay-making and harvest, she earns much as comes one
week with another to about . .

Total

Weekly expences of this family . .

Weekly earnings . .

Deficiency of earnings

.... (p.8).

[Note: On pp. 15 and 16 Davies estimated that “Annual out-goings” on
rent, fuel, clothing, child-bearing, sickness etc., would be about £7, or 2s. 8Jd.
per week.]

Few poor families can afford themselves more than 1 lb. of meat
weekly.

uckling is here so profitable (to furnish veal for London) that the
poor can seldom either buy or beg milk.

Poor people reckon cheese the dearest article they can use (p. 19).

... I have read somewhere, that about the beginning of this century,
the poor of this country receiving relief were computed to be about
600,000. I think it probable that their number is now [1787] almost
tripled. In this parish the poor-rate is somew^hat lower than in any
of the contiguous parishes. . . . The number of poor receiving relief,
either individually or by families, (including those in the poor-house)
is about forty, besides others assisted occasionally in sickness: that
is, the number of individuals assisted by the rate is about one-fifth of

8 Hi

0 51-

6 SELECT D^GUM^NTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

the ' whole. Supposing this proportion to hold throughout the
Kingdom, and our population to be 8,000,000, the number of
paupers comes out 1,600,000. ... It is manifestly impossible tQ
diminish the rate in any degree, without greatly increasing the
miseries of the poor (pp. 26-7).

Such being the unhappy condition of poor people, particularly,
of day-labourers : left, for the most part, destitute of instruction in
their early years, and copying as they grow up the example of
vicious parents ; being, in consequence of this, thoughtless, improvi-
dent, and irreligious in youth; unable, when married, by incessant
labour, to provide for the necessities of even a moderate family;
their spirits sinking, as children come on, under a growing weight
of wretchedness and woe; their applications for assistance often
treated by contempt by the persons appointed to relieve them; can
we wonder, if thus circumstanced, they receive occasional favours
without ^gratitude and brood over their miseries in sulky silence?
Gan we wonder at that wide-spread dishonesty, and profligacy of
manners, the fatal effects of which we are daily lamenting? Our
astonishment will assuredly cease, if we do but reflect that the very
best education will scarcely keep a man honest and virtuous, whose
family is perishing for want of necessaries (p. 29).

Increased number of Manufacturers. Whatever opinion we may adopt
as to the general population of the kingdom, all will acknowledge
that this class of people is multiplied exceedingly. And depending
upon their employers for their daily subsistance, they are in much
the same situation with reduced farmers and impoverished
labourers ; that is, they are very liable to come to want. The caprice
of fashion causes by fits and starts a great demand for one species of
goods, and a cessation of demand for another ; and thus workmen,
who to-day are fully employed, may be tomorrow in the streets
begging their bread. By living in towns, and associating at publick-
houses, they are habitually improvident, and mind nothing but
present enjoyment ; and when flung out of work, they are imme-
diately in want. They are also, from their sedentary occupations and
habitual intemperance, more short-lived than day-labourers ; and
leaving families behind them unable wholly to maintain themselves,
these, as the men die off, fall on the parishes. All this will account
for the misery visible in manufacturing towns, in most of which the
poor are numerous, and the rates higher than in other places. Manu-
facturers enjoy, however, one advantage over day-labourers, though
they seldom make a right use of it. Several manufacturies employ
women and children, as well as men: and wherever this is the case,
these families might earn a great deal more money, and live better,
than ]abouring*fami]ies do; but by contracting early the vices of

THE BRITISH BACKgROUNjp

towns, they commonly misspend their earnings, which if used -with
frugality, would render their condition comfortable and themselves
, happy, (pp. 54-5).

B. Social Conditions

4. Poverty. 1750 c.

(H. Fielding: An Enquiry into the Causes of the late Increase of Robbers ^
&c. Collected Works, Vol. X, pp. 446-8.)

But I come to the second head, namely, of vagabonds ; and, her^
I , must observe, that wandering is of itself made no offence : so that
unless such wanderer be either a petty chapman, or a beggar or
lodger in alehouses, &c., he is not within the act of parliament.

Now, however useful this excellent law may be in the country, it
will by no means serve the purpose in this town; for, though most
of the rogues who infest the public roads and streets, indeed almost
all the thieves in general, are vagabonds in the true sense of the word,
being wanderers from their lawful place of abode, very few of them
will be proved vagabonds within the words of this act of parliament.
These vagabonds do, indeed, get their livelihood by thieving, and
not as petty beggars or petty chapmen; and have their lodging not
in alehouses, &c., but in private houses, where many of them resort
together, and unite in gangs, paying each 2d. per night for their beds.

The following account I have had from Mr. Welch, the high-
constable of Holborn; and none who know that gentleman, will
want any confirmation of the truth of it.

‘‘That in the parish of St. Giles’s there are great numbers of houses
set apart for the reception of idle persons and vagabonds, who have
their lodgings there for twopence a night ; that in the above parish,
and in St. George, Bloomsbury, one woman alone occupies seven of
these houses, all properly accommodated with miserable beds from
the cellar to the garret, for such twopenny lodgers : that in these beds,
several of which are in the same room, men and women, often
strangers to each other, lie promiscuously; the price of a double bed
being no more than three-pence, as an encouragement to them to
lie together; but as these places are thus adapted to whoredom, so
are they no less provided for drunkenness, gin being sold in them all
at a penny a quartern; so that the smallest sum of money serves for
■ intoxication; that in the execution of search-warrants Mr. Welch
rarely finds less than twenty of these houses open for the receipt of all
comers at the latest hours ; that in one of these houses, and that not a
large one, he hath numbered fifty-eight persons of both sexes, the
stench of whom was so intolerable that it compelled him in a short
time to quit the place”. . . .

If one considers the destruction of all morality, decency, and

8 SELECT DJ?GUME^TS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

modesty; the swearing, whoredom, and drunkenness, which is
eternally carrying on in these houses, on the one hand, and the
excessive poverty and misery of most of the inhabitants on th^ other, ^
it seems doubtful whether they are more the objects of detestation
or compassion; for such is the poverty of these wretches, that, upon
searching all the above number, the money found upon all of them
. , . did not amount to one shilling; and I have been credibly
informed, that a single loaf hath supplied a whole family with their
provisions for a week. Lastly, if any of these miserable creatures fall
dck (and it is almost a miracle that stench, vermin, and want,
should ever suffer them to be well) they are turned out in the streets
by their merciless host or hostess, where, unless some parish office
of extraordinary charity relieves them, they are sure miserably to
perish, with the addition of hunger and cold to their disease.

5* The Progress of Birmingham. 1791.

(A. Young: Tours in England and WaleSy pp. 255-8.)

I looked around me with amazement at the change effected in
twelve years ; so great that this place may now probably be reckoned,
with justice, the first manufacturing town in the world. From this
port and these quays you may now go by water to Hull, Liverpool,
Bristol, Oxford (130 miles), and London. ... In 1768 the population
was under 30,000; now the common calculation is 70,000, but more
accurate calculation extend it to 80,000, which I am told is the
number assigned by Dr.Priestley. In the last 10 years above 4000 new
houses have been built : and the increase is at present going on much
more rapidly, for I was told that the number this year is not less
than 700.

The earnings of the workmen in the manufacture are various,
but in general very high; a boy of 10 or 12 years, 2s. 6d. to 3s. a
week; a woman from 4s. to 20s. a week, average about 6s.; men
from 10s. to 25s, a week, and some much higher; colliers earn yet
more. These are immense wages, when it is considered that the
whole family is sure of constant steady employment; indeed they
are so great, that I am inclined to think labour higher at Birmingham
than in any place in Europe: a most curious circumstance for the
politician to reflect on, and which shews of how little effect to
manufactures is cheap labour, for here is the most flourishing fabric
that was perhaps ever known, paying the highest rates of labour.
Such an instance ought to correct those common notions that have
been retailed from hand to hand a thousand times, that cheap
provisions are necessary for the good of manufactures, because
cheap provisions suppose cheap labour, which is a combination
founded in ignorance and error.

THE BRITISH BACKGROUND

6. Vice Bred by Pobljc-Houses. 1795.

(P. Golquhoun: A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis, pp. 324-5.)

. . . perhaps the greatest source of delinquency and crimes is to he ascribed to
ill-regulated Public Houses, conducted by men of loose conduct and
depraved morals — Since it is in these receptacles that the corruption
of morals originates. — It is here that the minds of youth are contam-
inated, and the conspiracies for the purpose of committing frauds
and depredations on the Public formed and facilitated.

A disorderly and ill-regulated Public-house, therefore, is one of
the greatest nuisances that can exist in civil Society. . . .

It is in these receptacles that Thieves and Robbers of every
description hold their orgies, and concert and mature their plans of
depredation on the peaceful Subject; and here too it not unfrequent-
ly happens, that their booty is deposited and concealed

In fact, there is scarce any moral evil by which Society is afflicted —
the mind debauched — the virtuous parent and master distressed, and the ruin
of families and individuals affected, which is not generated in Public-
houses.

At present, in the Metropolis and its environs, there are at least
five thousand of these receptacles, of which it is computed that about
one thousand change tenants from once to three times a year.

7. The Plight of the Poor, 1796.

(F. Eden: The State of the Poor, Vol. I, loc. cit.)

A pamphlet written [in 1768] by James Massie ascribes the
increase of the Poor to monopolizing farms, and enclosures of
common lands: it also asserts, that the decrease in the number of
labourers, and many other evils, have been occasioned by removing
multitudes from the solid basis afforded them by agricultural
employment, to the artificial and fluctuating basis of trade (p. 329).

I know several parishes, in which the greatest difficulty, the Poor
labour under, is the impossibility of procuring habitations. The
present is said to be an age of speculation, and particularly so in
building; but adventurers in this line, I believe, seldom think of
erecting cottages in country parishes, on the contingent possibility
of letting them to labourers’ families. Neither can labourers them-
selves, who wish to migrate from their parents, and set up them-
selves, although they may possess the small sum requisite to erect a
cottage, always obtain permission from the lord of a manor to
build one on a common. I am acquainted with one parish, in the
neighbourhood of a populous city, in which, from the difficulty of
procuring tenements, or small plots of land to build on, poor people
have, more than once, availed themselves of a long night, to rear a
hovel on the road-side, or on the common (p. 361)t

10 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

jMr. Fox, in the course of the last sessions qf Parliament, observed,
that it was a melancholy consideration, that the greater part of the
working classes in this country were lying at the mercy, and almost
living on the charity, of the Rich (p. 458) .

London does not pay above a tenth part of the Poor’s Rate. The
medium of the three years 1783, 1784, 1785, paid by the 159
parishes, which may be fairly said to constitute the metropolis, was,
;^200,762. 8s. 7d. : and the medium Poor’s Rate paid by England and
Wales, 167,749. 13s. 8d.. So that, notwithstanding the extreme
fnisery and wretchedness which are said to prevail, more peculiarly,
in this great city, the proportion of persons receiving parochial
relief, (if estimated from the assessments,) is much greater in the
country than in the metropolis: and if we suppose the Poor to
receive as much assistance from private charity in one place as in
the other, it would seem, that (setting aside the payments from
Friendly Societies,) the annual disbursements of the Rich, in the
various objects of permanent and occasional charity, exceed six
millions sterling (pp. 462-5).

C. Criminal Code

8. Crime and Funisliment. 1751.

(H. Fielding : An Enquiry into the Causes of the late Increase of Robbers^ &c.
Collected Works, Vol. X. loc. cit.)

The great increase of robberies within these few years is an evil
which to me appears to deserve some attention; and the rather as it
seems (though already become so flagrant) not yet to have arrived
to that height of which it is capable, and which it is likely to attain.
... In fact, I make no doubt, but that the streets of this town, and
the roads leading to it, will shortly be impassable without the utmost
hazard; . . . surely there are few matters of more general concern
than to put an immediate end to these outrages, which are already
become so notorious, and which, as I have observed, seem to threat-
en us with such a dangerous increase. What indeed may not the
publick apprehend, when they are informed as an unquestionable
fact, that there are at this time a great gang of rogues, whose
number falls little short of a hundred, who are incorporated in one-
body, have officers and a treasury, and have reduced theft and
robbery into a regular system (pp. 357-8).

First then, I think, that the vast torrent of luxury, which of late
years hath poured itself into this nation, hath greatly contributed to
produce, among many others, the mischief I here complain
of (p. 360).

THE BRITISH BACKGROUND

. . . wretches are often brought before me, charged with theft and
robbery, whom I am forced to confine before they are in a condition
to be examined; and when they have afterwards become sober, I
have plainly perceived, from the state of the case that Gin alone was
the cause of the transgression, and have been sometimes sorry that
I was obliged to commit them to prison (p. 375).

... I come now to a second cause of the evil, in the improper
regulation of what is called the poor in this kingdom, arising, I
think, partly from the abuse of some laws, and partly from the total
neglect of others; and (if I may presume to say it) somewhai;
perhaps from a defect in the laws themselves (p. 387).

The last and much the most numerous class of poor, are those who
are able to work and not willing ... so very faulty and remiss hath
been the execution of these laws (i.e. Statute of Artificers etc.), that
an incredulous reader may almost doubt whether there are really
any such existing. Particularly as to that which relates to the rating
the wages of labourers; a law which at first, it seems, was too
carelessly executed, and which hath since grown into utter neglect
and disuse (p. 411).

. . . Now, for petit larceny, which is the stealing of goods of less value
than a shilling, the punishment at common law is whipping; and
this was properly enough considered as too trifling an offence to
extend the guilt to criminals in a second degree. But since juries
have taken upon them to consider the value of goods as immaterial,
and to find upon their oaths, that what is proved to be worth
several shillings, and sometimes several pounds, is of the value of
tenpence, this is become a matter of more consequence. For instance,
if a pickpocket steal several handkerchiefs, or other things, to the
value of twenty shillings, and the receiver of these, knowing them to
be stolen, is discovered, and both are indicted, the one as principal,
the other as accessary, as they must be; if the jury convict the
principal, and find the goods to be of as high value as a shilling, he
must receive judgement of death; whereas, by finding the goods
(which they do upon their oaths) to be of the value of ten-pence,
the thief is ordinarily sentenced to be whipped, and returns
immediately to his trade of picking pockets, and the accessary is of
course discharged, and of course returns to his trade of receiving
the booty. Thus the jury are perjured, the public highly injured, and
two excellent acts of parliament defeated, that two miscreants may
laugh at their prosecutors, and at the law. . . . (p. 428).

Something ought to be done, to put an end to the present practice,
of which I daily see the most pernicious consequences ; many of the
younger thieves appearing plainly to be taught, encouraged, and
employed by the receivers (p. 431).

12 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

f r

I NOW come to a fourth encouragement which greatly holds up
the spirit of robbers, and which they often find to afford no deceitful
consolation; and this is drawn from the remissness of prosecutors,
who are often,

L Fearful, and to be intimidated by the threats of the gang; or,

2. Delicate, and cannot appear in a public court; or,

3. Indolent, and will not give themselves the trouble of a prosecu-

tion; or,

4. Avaricious, and will not undergo the expence of it; nay, per-

haps, find their account in compounding the matter; or,

5. Tender-hearted, and cannot take away the life of a man; or,

Lastly, Necessitous, and cannot really afford the cost, however

small, together with the loss of time which attends it (p. 462).

• I come^now to the last difficulty which obstructs the prosecution
of offenders ; namely, the extreme poverty of the prosecutor. This I
have known to be so absolutely the case, that the poor wretch who
hath been bound to prosecute was under more concern than the
prisoner himself. It is true that the necessary cost on these occasions
is extremely small; two shillings, which are appointed by act of
parliament for drawing the indictment, being, I think, the whole
which the law requires; but when the expense of attendance,
generally with several witnesses, sometimes during several days
together, and often at a great distance from the prosecutor’s home ;
I say, when these articles are summed up, and the loss of time added
to the account, the whole amounts to an expense which a very poor
person, already plundered by the thief, must look on with such
horror (if he should not be absolutely incapable of the expense)
that he must be a miracle of public spirit if he doth not rather choose
to conceal the felony, and sit down satisfied with his present loss;
but what shall we say when (as is very common in this town) he may
not only receive his own again, but be farther rewarded, if he will
agree to compound it? (pp. 465-6).

The usual defence of a thief, especially at the Old Bailey, is an
alzk ' ; to prove this by perjury is a common act of Newgate friendship ;
and there seldom is any difficulty in procuring such witnesses. I
remember a felon within this twelvemonth to have been proved to be
in Ireland at the time when the robbery was sworn to have been done
in London, and acquitted; but he was scarce gone from the bar,
when the witness was himself arrested for a robbery committed in
London, at that very time when he swore both he and his friend
were in Dublin; for which robbery, I think, he was tried
and executed (p,, 472).

THE BRITISH BAGKaROUNB

13-

9, Crimes Punisliable by Death. 1765-9.

(P, Colquhoun: A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis^ pp. 437-40.)

1. CRIMES punishable by the Deprivation -of Life; and where^
upon the Conviction of the Offenders the sentence of Death must be pronounced
by the Judge. — Of these^ it has been stated, the whole, on the authority of
Sir William Blacks tone, including all the various shades of the same offence,
is about i6o in number.

The principal are the following :

Treason, and Petty Treason; . . . Under the former of these is
included the Offence of Counterfeiting the Gold and Silver
Coin. . . .

Murder. . . .

Arson, or wilfully and maliciously burning a House, Barns with
Corn, &c. . . .

Rape, or the forcible violation of chastity, &c.

Stealing an Heiress. . . .

Sodomy, a crime against nature, committed either with man or
beast. . . .

Piracy, or robbing ships and vessels at sea : under which is included,
the Offences of sailors forcibly hindering their captains from
fighting. . . .

Forgery of Deeds, Bonds, Bills, Notes, Public Securities, «&c. &c.
Clerks of the Bank embezzling Notes, altering Dividend
Warrants: Paper Makers, unauthorised, using Moulds for
Notes, &c.

Destroying Ships, or setting them on Fire. . . .

Bankrupts not surrendering, or concealing their Effects.

Burglary, or House Breaking in the night time. . . .

Highway Robbery.

House Breaking in the day time. . . .

Privately Stealing or Picking Pockets above one Shilling.

Shop Lifting above Five Shillings. . . .

Stealing Bonds, Bills, or Bank Notes.

Stealing Bank Notes or Bills from Letters.

Stealing above 40s. in any House. . . .

Stealing above 40s. on a River.

Stealing Linen, &c. from Bleaching Grounds, &c. or destroying
Linen therein.

Maiming or Killing Cattle maliciously {See the Black Act, 9 Geo. 1 .
cap. 22).

Stealing Horses, Cattle or Sheep.

Shooting at a Revenue Officer, or at any other person [See the
Black Act) .

Pulling down Houses, Churches, &c.

14 SELECT D<rGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Breaking down the head of a Fish-Pond, whereby Fish may be
lost (Black Act) .

Cutting down Trees in an Avenue, Garden, &c.

Gutting down River or Sea Banks.

Cutting Hop Binds.

Setting fire to coal mines.

Taking a Reward for helping another to Stolen Goods, in certain
cases. . . .

Returning from Transportation; or being at large in the Kingdom
^ after Sentence.

Stabbing a Person unarmed, or not having a weapon drawn, if he
die in six months.

Concealing the death of a Bastard Child.

Maliciously maiming or disfiguring any person, &c., lying in wait
for the purpose. . . .

Bending Threatening Letters (Black Act) .

Riots % twelve or more, and not dispersing in an hour after
proclamation.

Being accessaries to Felonies deemed capital.

Stealing Woollen Cloth from Tenter Grounds.

Stealing from a Ship in Distress.

Government Stores, embezzling, burning, or destroying in Dock-
Yards; in certain cases. . . .

Challenging Jurors above 20 in capital felonies; or standing mute.
Cottons selling with forged Stamps.

Deer-Stealing, second offence ; or even first offence, under Black Act,
not usually enforced..

Uttering counterfeit Money, third offence.

Prisoners under Insolvent Acts guilty of perjury.

Destroying Silk or Velvet in the Loom; or the Tools for manufac-
turing thereof; or destroying Woollen Goods, Racks or Tools,
or entering a House for that purpose.

Servants purloining their Masters’ Goods, value 40s.

Personating Bail; or acknowledging fines or judgments in another’s
Escape by breaking Prison, in certain cases. [name.

Attempting to kill Privy Counsellors, &c.

Sacrilege.

Smuggling by persons armed; or assembling armed for the purpose.
Robbery of the Mail.

Destroying Turnpikes or Bridges, Gates, Weighing Engines, Locks,
Sluices, Engines for Draining Marshes, &c.

Mutiny, Desertion, &c. by the Martial and Statute Law.

Soldiers or Sailors enlisting into Foreign Services.

[Note: For the crimes punishable by transportation see Section 3, A, 2 of
this volume.]

THE BRITISH BACKaROUNI^

10. Tlie Administration of Jnstice. 1765.

(W. Blackstone: Commentaries on the Laws of England^ Vol. IV, pp.

48-19.)*

It is a melancholy truth, that among the variety of actions which
men are daily liable to commit, no less than an hundred and sixty
have been declared by act of parliament to be felonies without
benefit of clergy; or, in other words, to be worthy of instant death.
So dreadful a list, instead of diminishing, increases the number of
offenders. The injured, through compassion, will often forbear to
prosecute: juries, through compassion, will sometimes forget their
oaths, and either acquit the guilty or mitigate the nature of the
offence: and judges, through compassion, will respite one half of the
convicts, and recommend them to the royal mercy. Among so many
chances of escaping, the needy and hardened offender overlooks
the multitude that suffer: he boldly engages in some ^esperate^
attempt, to relieve his wants or supply his vices ; and, if unexpectedly
the hand of justice overtakes him, he deems himself peculiarly
unfortunate, in failing at last to those laws, which long impunity
has taught him to contemn.

11. Alarming Increase of Crime. 1785.

{Pari Hist,, Vol. XXV, cols. 901-12.)

Debate on Petition from London against the Bill for the further
Prevention of Crimes, and the Detection and Punishment of
offenders, in the cities of London and Westminster, and the
Borough of Southwark.

Mr. Alderman Hammet said, he wished to get rid of the Bill
altogether. It had created great alarm and uneasiness in the city of
London; so much so, that if a torch had been applied to the buildings
there, it could not have created greater alarm. The Bill was an
infringement of the chartered rights of the Court of Aldermen, who
were most of them friendly to the present administration. As a friend
to it himself, he declared he was sorry the Bill had been brought in,
and he was persuaded the best way to quiet the people would be
to abandon the subject. He therefore moved, that the order for
bringing in the Bill be discharged.

Mr. Alderman Townshend reprobated the Bill that had been
brought in as an infringement of the city’s charter, and as intro-
ducing a system of police entirely new and extremely alarming. . . .
He was ready at any time to enter upon a discussion of the causes
that had encouraged thieves of every denomination, to grow to
such an extravagant number, and to carry on their depredations
with a degree of enormity hitherto unknown. To the number of
trading justices, he imputed a great part of this ^il. Every body

16 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

f «*

knew there was a regular office in Bow-street, under the countenance
of, and paid by Government; but then there were a great many
persons who had got into the commission, that set up offices of
their own, for the mere sake of trade, and of getting money by the
business of an office ; these separate trading offices, instead of doing
good, did harm, their chief object being to counteract the proceed-
ings of the office in Bow-street. There were, he said, many good
magistrates undoubtedly in the commission for Westminster; but
there were many of another description, who ought not to have been
fput in it; and he would go farther, there were many in it that ought
to have been put out of it ; and those he could, if necessary, name and
prove to be very improper men to act as justices. But before an
entire new system of police was adopted, the laws in being ought to
be enforced; if they were, he would take upon him to assert, that
there would not be half the robberies that at present prevailed. . . .
<He complained of the want of a place to transport felons to, and of
the false lenity shewn to convicts for the most atrocious crimes.
He said, it was to no purpose to multiply penal laws if they were not
put in force. That the judges had now got it into their heads that
they ought not to execute for horse-stealing; hence, associations of
robbers were formed in all parts of the kingdom, who stole and
dealt in stolen horses; and thus, from a strange idea of a lenity,
that appeared to him to be highly improper, the country was over-
run with horse-stealers. He talked of the bad consequences of the
judges pardoning all convicts before they left the town at country
assizes ; and said, it could not be expected that robberies and burglar-
ies should decrease, when the sentence of the law was not executed.

. . . Why, then, ought persons known to get their living by the
perpetration of crimes to go at large? And yet, he knew himself
above 600 persons in that city who lived by nothing else, and whom
he could prove to be thieves. . . .

[Mr. Pitt] professed himself not to be perfectly the master of the
subject, and therefore incapable of forming a competent judgment
how far the provisions now proposed to be applied, might be
expected to effect the purpose. But still, the necessity of something
being done to prevent the enormous grievance that every body
complained of, had been long an object in his mind; but he was
happy in feeling that the business was in so much abler hands. . . .

[The Solicitor General said] With regard to the excellence of the
aldermen of London as magistrates, he had not one word to say
against it. But most of the aldermen of London had avocations of
their own, exclusive of their business at Guildhall and the Mansion-
house. What was wanted was, in his opinion, some persons, whose
constant and unremitted duty it should be to keep upon the look-out,

THE BRITISH BAGKG410UNI> 17 .

to maintain an active search after offenders ; and when they'had
apprehended them, to send them before the aldermen of London,
ibr them to work upon. , He reminded the House, that tliere were
such places as Field-lane, Chick-lane, Gravel-lane, Brick-lane,
Petticoat-lane, Duke’s-place, Houndsditch, and a variety of
similar neighbourhoods, all within the bounds of the city, notoriously
resorted to by pick-pockets, house-breakers, and thieves of every
denomination. . . . The House had heard in the debate of the great
number of thieves in London at this time, to the certain knowledge
of the magistrates of the city. He could in addition, assure the House*
that he was well satisfied from the information that he had received,
that there was at this time a growing crop springing up, consisting
of between two and three thousand lads, from the age of ten to
fifteen, who every night of their lives were in employ in their
pernicious practices, and who, in the day, slept in cellars, in barns,
in coal-sheds, and in corners in and about the metropolis, and'
several of whom were to be found in the hollow trees in Hyde-Park.
Let the House recollect the recent proof that had been given of the
enormous extent to which villany had arrived. Within these eight
and forty hours, the master and mistress of a family had been traced
out of their house in a public street in the middle of the day, and in
their absence the house had been entered, and stripped of the
plate it contained, and the servant left murdered on the floor.

12. ^^The False Mercies of Juries’^ 1795.

(P. Colquhoun: A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis^ loc. cit.)

Few regulations have been established to restrain vice, or to
render difficult the commission of crimes ; while the Statute Books
have been filled with numerous Laws, in many instances doubtfully
expressed, and whose leading feature had generally been severe
punishment. These circumstances, aided by the false mercies of
Juries in cases of slight offences, have tended to let loose upon
Society a body of criminal individuals, who under a better Police —
an improved system of Legislation, and milder punishments,
— might, after a correction in Penitentiary Houses, or employment
in out-door labour, under proper restraints, have been restored to
Society as useful members.

As the Laws are at present administered, it is a melancholy
truth not to be contradicted that the major part of the criminals
who infest this Metropolis, although committed by magistrates
for trial on very satisfactory proof, are returned upon the Public
in vast numbers year after year; encouraged to renew their former
practices, by the facility they experience in evading justice (pp. 3-4).

As the laws now stand, little or no energy enters mto the system
of detection, so as to give vigor and effect to that branch of Police

18 SELECT PpCUME^TS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

which relates to the apprehension of persons charged with offences ;
and no sooner does a Magistrate commit a hacknied Thief or
Receiver t»f stolen Goods, a Coiner, or Dealer in base Mojiey, or^
a Criminal charged, with any other fraud or offence punishable by
law, than recourse is immediately had to some desreputable
Attorney, whose mind is made up and prepared to practise every
trick and device which can defeat the ends of substantial justice.
Depraved persons, fiequently accomplices, are hired to swear an
alibi; witnesses are cajoled, threatened, or bribed either to mutilate
ft'heir evidence, or to speak doubtfully on the trial, although they
swore positively- before the committing Magistrate.

If bribes and persuasions will not do, the prosecutors are either
intimidated by the expence, or softened down by appeals to their
humanity ; and under such circumstances, they neither employ coun-
sel nor take the necessary steps to bring forward evidence : the result
is, that the Bill is either returned ignoramus by the Grand Jury ; or, if a
trial takes place, under all the disadvantages of a deficient evidence,
without a counsel for the prosecution, an advocate is heard for the
prisoner, availing himself of every trifling inaccuracy which may
screen his client from the punishment of the Law, the hardened
villain is acquitted and escapes justice: while, as we before noticed,
the novice in crimes, unskilled in the deficiencies of the Law, and
unable, from the want of criminal connections, or that support
which the professed thief receives from the Buyers of stolen goods,
to procure the aid of counsel to defend him, is often convictedl

The Registrars of the Old Bailey afford a lamentable proof of
the evils arising from the present mode of trying criminals without
a public Prosecutor for the Grown. — In the course of seven years,
previous to the Police Establishment, no less than 4262 prisoners,
who had been actually put upon their trial by the Grand Jury, were
let loose upon the Public by acquittals (pp. 20-1).

D. The Prisons

13. Unsatisfactory State of Bridewells. 1751.

(H. Fielding: An Enquiry into the Causes of the late Increase of Robbers,
Collected Works, Vol. X, p. 419.)

. . . they must be very lazy persons indeed who can esteem the labour
imposed in any of these houses as a punishment. In some, I am
told, there is not any provision made for work. In that of Middlesex
in particular the governor hath confessed to me, that he hath had
no work to employ his prisoners, and hath urged as a reason, that
having generally great numbers of most desperate felons under his
charge, who, notwithstanding his utmost care, will sometimes get
access to his other prisoners, he dares not trust those who are

THE BRITISH BACKGROUND 19

• ♦

committed to hard labour with any heavy or sharp instruments of
work, lest they should be converted into weapons by the felons.

What good consequence then can arise from sending idle and
"disorderly persons to a place where they are neither to be corrected
nor employed; and where, with the conversation of many as bad,
and sometimes worse than themselves, they are sure to be improved
in the knowledge, and confirmed in the practice of iniquity? Gan it
be conceived that such persons will not come out of these houses
much more iale and disorderly than they went in ? The truth of this
I have often experienced in the behaviour of the wretches brougl^
before me ; the most impudent and flagitious of whom have always
been such as have been before acquainted with the discipline of
Bridewell; a commitment to which place, though it often causes
great horror and lamentation in the novice, is usually treated
with ridicule and contempt by those who have already been there.

14. Conditions in Prisons. 1770 c.

(J. Howard: The State of the Prisons^ pp. 7-21 .)

THERE are prisons, into which whoever looks will, at first sight
of the people confined, be convinced, that there is some great error
in the management of them: their sallow meagre countenances
declare, without words, that they are very miserable: many who
went in healthy, are in a few months changed to emaciated dejected
objects. Some are seen pining under diseases, ^^sick^ and in prison ^^ ;
expiring on the floors, in loathsome cells, of pestilential fevers,
and the confluent smallpox: victims, I must not say to the cruelty,
but I will say to the inattention, of sheriffs, and gentlemen in the
commission of the peace.

THE cause of this distress is, that many prisons are scantily sup-
plied, and some almost totally unprovided with the necessaries of life.

THERE are several Bridewells (to begin with them) in which
prisoners have no allowance of FOOD at all. In some, the keeper
farms what little is allowed them: and where he engages to supply
each prisoner with one or two pennyworth of bread a day, I have
known this shrunk to half, sometimes less than half the quantity,
cut or broken from his own loaf.

IT will perhaps be asked, does not their work maintain them ?
for every one knows that those offenders are committed to hard labour.
The answer to that question, though true, will hardly be believed.
There are very few Bridewells in which any work is done, or can
be done. The prisoners have neither tools, nor materials of any kind ;
but spend their time in sloth, profaneness and debauchery, to a
degree which, in some of those houses that I have seen, is extremely
shocking.

SOME keepers of these houses, who have represented to the

20 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

magistrates the wants of their prisoners, and desired for them
necessary food, have been silenced with these inconsiderate words,
Let them Wfitk or starve. When those gentlemen know the former is
impossible, do they not by that sentence, inevitably doom poor*
creatures to the latter?

I HAVE asked some keepers, since the late act for preserving the
health of prisoners, why no care is taken of their sick : and have been
answered, that magistrates tell them the act does not extend to Bridewells.

IN consequence of this, at the quarter sessions you see prisoners,
covered (hardly covered) with rags; almost famished; and sick of
diseases, which the discharged spread where they go; and with
which those who are sent to the County-Gaols infect these prisons.

THE same complaint, want of food^ is to be found in many
COUNTY-GAOLS. In above half these, debtors have no bread;
although it is granted to the highwayman, the house-breaker, and the
murderer^ and medical assistance, which is provided for the latter, is
withheld from the former. In many of these Gaols, debtors who would
work are not permitted to have any tools, lest they furnish felons with
them for escape or other mischief. I have often seen these prisoners
eating their water-soup (bread boiled in mere water) and heard
them say, ‘‘We are locked up and almost starved to death”. . . .

FELONS have in some Gaols two pennyworth of bread a day;
in some three halfpennyworth; in some a pennyworth; in some a
shilling a week: the particulars will be seen hereafter in their
proper places. I often weighed the bread in different prisons, and
found the penny loaf 7^ to SJ ounces, the other loaves in proportion.
It is probable that when this allowance was fixed by its value,
near double the quantity that the money will now purchase, might
be bought for it: yet the allowance continues unaltered: and it is
not uncommon to see the whole purchase, especially of the smaller
sums, eaten at breakfast: which is sometimes the case when they
receive their pittance but once in two days: and then on the
following day they must fast.

THIS allowance being so far short of the cravings of nature, and
in some prisons lessened by farming to the gaolor, many criminals
are half starved: such of them as at their commitment were in
health, come out almost famished, scarce able to move, and for
weeks incapable of any labour.

MANY prisons have NO WATER. This defect is frequent in
Bridewells, and Town-Gaols. In the felons’ courts of some County-
Gaols there is no water: in some places where there is water, prisoners
are always locked up within doors, and have no more than the keeper
or his servants think fit to bring them: in one place they were
limited to three pints a day each — a scanty provision for drink and
cleanliness! . . . ,

THE BRITISH BACKGROUND

AIR which has been breathed, is made poisonous to a more
intense degree by the effluvia from the sick ; and what else in prisons
is offensive. My reader will judge of its malignity, when 5 assure him,
that my cloaths were in my first journeys so offensive, that in a
post-chaise I could not bear the windows drawn up: and was
therefore often obliged to travel on horseback. THE leaves of my
memorandum-book were often so tainted, that I could not use it
till after spreading it an hour or two before the fire: and even my
antidote, a vial of vinegar, has after using it in a few prisons,
become intolerably disagreeable. I did not wonder that in th<?se
journeys many gaolers made excuses; and did not go with me into
the felons’ wards. ...

THE evils mentioned hitherto affect the health and life of prisoners :

I have now to complain of what is pernicious to thdr MORALS ;
and that is, the confining all sorts of prisoners together: debtors and
felons; men and women; the young beginner and the old offender:
and with all these, in some counties, such as are guilty of misde-
meanors only; who should have been committed to Bridewell to be
corrected by diligence and labour; but for want of food, and the
means of procuring it in those prisons, are in pity sent to such County-
Gaols as afford these offenders prison-allowance.

FEW prisons separate men and women in the daytime. In some
counties the Gaol is also the Bridewell: in others those prisons are
contiguous, and the yard common. There the petty offender is
committed for instruction to the most profligate. In some Gaols you
see (and who can see it without pain?) boys of twelve or fourteen
eagerly listening to the stories told by practised and experienced
criminals, of their adventures, successes, stratagems, and escapes.

I MUST here add, that in some few Gaols are confined idiots and
lunatics. These serve for sport to idle visitants at assizes, and other
times of general resort. The insane, where they are not kept separate,
disturb and terrify other prisoners. No care is taken of them,
although it is probable that by medicines, and proper regimen,
some of them might be restored to their senses, and to usefulness
in life. ...

THE general prevalence and spread of wickedness in prisons, and
abroad by the discharged prisoners, will now be as easily accounted
for, as the propagation of disease. It is often said, “A prison pays
no debts I am sure it may be added, that a prison mends no morals.
Sir John Fielding observes, that ‘'a. criminal discharged . . . general-
ly by the next sessions, after the execution of his comrades, becomes
the head of a gang of his own raising”. Improved, no doubt, in
skill by the company he kept in gaol: and petty offenders who are
committed to Bridewell for a year or two, and spend that time,
not in hard labour, but in idleness and wicked company, or are sent

22 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
. r »■

for that time to County-Gaols, generally grow desperate, and come
out fitted, for the perpetration of any villainy. How directly contrary
this to the mtention of our laws with regard to petty offenders;
which certainly is to correct and reform them! Instead of which,
their confinement doth notoriously promote and increase the very
vices it was designed to suppress. Multitudes of young creatures,
committed for some trifling oifence, are totally ruined there. I make
no scruple to affirm, that if it were the wish and aim of Magistrates
to effect the destruction present and future of young delinquents,
th^y could not devise a more effectual method, than to confine them
so long in our prisons, those seats and seminaries (as they have very
properly been called) of idleness and every vice.

15. Overcrowded Gaols. 1785.

(G.J., Vol.^XL, p. 954.)

Lord Beauchamp’s Report on Committee appointed to report

on 1784 Transportation Act.

Thomas Buttersworth Bailey^ Esquire, an acting Magistrate for the
County of Lancaster^ being examined, acquainted the Committee,
That the Magistrates at the Quarter Sessions have experienced
great Difficulties in inflicting the Punishment of Transportation
for Seven Years, the Sentence being for Transportation generally,
to some Parts beyond the Seas, as the Magnitude of the Punishment
is rendered very uncertain, from the Difference of the Climate and
Country to which they may be sent, and from the Uncertainty of
the Offenders being able to return after the Expiration of the Term
— That under this Embarrassment they have sentenced Persons to
Imprisonment in England for different Terms, whom otherwise they
would have sentenced to Transportation. — That in consequence of
this a very great Accumulation of Prisoners has taken place in the
County Gaol, and other Prisons, where there is not Accommodation
for them. . . . That some of them have been confined Three Years,
or Three Years and a Half, since they were sentenced to Trans-
portation — ^That there is no stated County Allowance — ^That they
are maintained under discretionary Orders from the Magistrates
when they visit the Prisons — ^And that, if the Law remains as it is,
the Evil will be greatly increased. . . .

Richard Akerman^ Esquire . . . acquainted the Committee, That in
a few Days the Number of Prisoners in his Custody [i.e. at Newgate]
will amount to 600, owing to the Influx from the other Gaols, for
the Purpose of Trial at the ensuing Sessions — ^That the present
Number is double of what it usually was Five or Six Years ago — and
that, from the full. State of the Gaol, it has happened that Convicts

' THE BRITISH BACKGROUJ^D 23

under Sentence of Death could not be kept in separate Cells,, as was

usually the Practice.

SOURCES USED FOR SECTION 1

A. Official Sources

1 . Journals of the House of Commons,

2. Parliamentary History,

3. Parliamentary Register,

B. Other Primary Sources

1 . Annual Register.

2. Anonymous: Cursory Remarks on Inclosures ^ shewing the
pernicious and destructive consequences of inclosing common
fields^ &c. 1786.

3. Blackstone, Sir William: Commentaries on the Laws • of
England. 1765-9. 13th ed., 1800.

4. Colquhoun, Patrick: A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis,
1795. 6th ed., 1800.

5. Davies, Rev. David: The Case of Labourers in Husbandry
stated and considered. 1 795.

6. Eden, Sir Frederick M. : The State of the Poor. 1797.

7. Fielding, Henry: An Enquiry into the Causes of the late increase
of Robbers, &c., 1751. Collected Works — Vol. X, edition of
1871.

8. Howard, John: The State of the Prisons in England and Wales,
1777.

9. Young, Arthur: Tours in England and Wales. Selected from
Annals of Agriculture, No. 14 in Reprints of Science Trac:(s
published by London School of Economics and Political
Science. 1932.

Section 2

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

A. First Proposals for a Settlement in New Soutli Wales.

B. Botany Bay Selected by British Government.

C. The First Fleet.

D. The First Five Years,

(a) Selection of Site at Port Jackson.

(b) The Environment.

(d) The Human Material — ^The Leaders.

(e The Human Material — The Convicts.

(f ) The Struggle for Survival — Food, Health, and Communi-

(g ) The Need for Free Settlers. [cations.

(h) The Aborigines.

(i) Retrospect. G. Moreton Bay.

E. Norfolk Island. H, Swan River.

F. Van Diemen’s Land. I, Port Phillip.

The documents in this section illustrate the planning and
founding of a penal colony in New South Wales in 1788. In
most instances the writers of these letters and journals were
founders of the new settlement, either as free men or as
convicts. Their writings reflect their hopes and their fears,
their sufferings and their privations, and their resentment
against the apparent inefficiency of and neglect by the home
government. Rationing, isolation, disease and misfortune
magnified the friction between those in authority and those in
bonds — between those in authority who were conscious of a
duty to perform and their subordinates who felt only the
ignominy and frustration of their situation in a tiny, struggling
colony, clinging precariously to the edge of a vast, unknown
and ungenerous continent.

At the end of the section there are documents illustrating
the reasons for and the early history of the settlements at
Norfolk Island, Moreton Bay, Van Diemen’s Land, Swan
River and Port Phillip.

The section begins with a chronological summary of the
main events.

THE FIRST SETTILEMEN'J’S

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS: 1788-1836 •

1770. Cook at Possession Island.

1779. Banks recommends Botany Bay as a site for

a penal colony.

1786. British Government chooses Botany Bay as
the site for a penal colony.

1787. May. Departure of the First Fleet.

1788. January. Arrival of First Fleet at Botany Bay.

Decision to establish settlement at Port
Jackson.

February Occupation of Norfolk Island.

1790. June. Arrival of the Second Fleet.

1792. December. Departure of Phillip.

1803. Occupation of T asmania.

1824. Occupation of Moreton Bay.

1826. Decision to occupy King George’s Sound.

1826-7. Settlement at Western Port.

1829. Occupation of Swan River.

1835. Batman’s treaties with the aborigines.

1 836. The New South Wales Government recognizes
the Settlement at Port Phillip.

A. First Proposals for a Settlement in
New South Wales

1. Cook Takes Possession of New South Wales, 1770.

(Lieut. Cook’s Official Log. H.RM.S.W., Vol. I, Pt 1, p. 157.)

[Note: The island referred to in this Log is Possession Island, which lies off
the north coast of Cape York. For a comment, see G. A. Wood: The Discovery
of Australia, pp. 440-8.]

Remarks, &c. Wednesday, August 22nd, 1770

Mod. and clear wea’r; saw a number of smoaks along shore. At 1 lay
too for the yawl; pinnace and longboat sounding. -a'P’t 2, made sail
and steer’d for a passage between some islands and the main. At 3
fired a gun, and made the signell for the boats to sound the next
passage to the no’ward of the abovemention’ d. |-p’t 3, was in the
passage; dist’ce from the east shore, | of a mile; saw several Indians,
who follow’d us shouting. At 4 fired a gun, and made the signell for
the boats; came too with the b’t bower, in 6| fa’m, good ground;
veer’d to ^ a. cable. Ex’t of the land on the east side, N. 56 E^, an
island to S.W., the main on the west side from N. 8 °E. to S. 73 °W.,
8 miles; dist’ce from the eastern shore,, one mile. The pinnace and
yawl, with the capt’n and gentlemen, went on shore to examin the

26 SELECT DOC^UMEN'^S IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

country, and view the coast from one of the hills; soon after saw
some turtle. It was high-water when we came too; the tide of ebb
set from thefS.W., 3 k. 2 f’r. p’r hour. At 6 possession was tal:en of
this country in his Majesty’s name and under his coulours; fired
several volleys of small arms on the occasion, and cheer’d 3 times,
which was answer’d from the ship.

[Note: For the naming of Australia see Macquarie to Bathurst, 21 December
1817, H.R.A. I, 9, p. 747. See also Cambridge History of the British Empire, Vol.
VII, Pt 1, p. 86, and A. Lodewyckx: “The Name of Australia: Its Origin and
Early Use”, Victorian Historical Magazine, Vol. XIIL]

2. Banks on Botany Bay. 1779.

(C. J., Vol. XXXVII, loc. cit.)

[Note: The American revolution made it impossible to continue transporta-
tion to North America. Between 1776 and 1779 the British Government made
two attempts at a solution to the problem. The first was the Hulks Act, 16 Geo.
Ill, c. XI JI?, 1776. For this see Section 3, B, 3 of this volume. The second was
the Penitentiary Act, 19 Geo. Ill, c. 74, 1779. They also toyed with the idea
of renewing transportation. In this extract Banks is trying to persuade the com-
mittee to choose Botany Bay for such a purpose.]

Your Committee thought proper, therefore, to examine how far
Transportation might be practicable to other Parts of the World:
And

Joseph Batiks^ Esquire, being requested, in case it should be thought
expedient to establish a Colony of convicted Felons in any distant
Parts of the Globe, from whence their Escape might be difficult, and
where, from the Fertility of the Soil, they might be enabled to
maintain themselves, after the First Year, with little or no Aid from
the Mother Country, to give his Opinion what Place would be most
eligible for such Settlement ? informed your Committee, That the
Place which appeared to him best adapted for such a Purpose, was
Botany Bay, on the coast of JVew Holland, in the Indian Ocean, which
was about Seven Months Voyage from England ; that he
apprehended there would be little Probability of any Opposition
from the Natives, as, during his Stay there, in the Year 1770, he
saw very few, and did not think there were above Fifty in all the
Neighbourhood, and had Reason to believe the Country was very
thinly peopled; those he saw were naked, treacherous, and armed
with Lances, but extremely cowardly, and constantly retired from
our People when they made the least Appearance of Resistance : He
was in this Bay in the End of APRIL and Beginning of MAY 1770,
when the Weather was mild and moderate; that the Climate,
he apprehended, was similar to that about TOULOUSE, in the
South of FRANCE, having found the Southern Hemisphere colder
than the Northern, in such Proportion, that any given Climate
in the Southern answered to one in the Northern about Ten Degrees

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS 27

nearer to the Pole; the Proportion of rich Soil was small in
Comparison to the barren, but sufficient to support a very large
Number of People; there were no tame Animals, anti he saw no
wild Ones during his Stay of Ten Days, but he observed the Dung of
what were called KANGOUROUS, which were almost the Size of a
middling Sheep, but very swift, and difficult to catch; some of
those Animals he saw in another Part of the Bay, upon the same
Continent; there were no Beasts of Prey, and he did not doubt but
our Oxen and Sheep, if carried there, would thrive and increase;
there was great Plenty of Fish, he took a large Quantity by hauling ffie
Seine, and struck several Stingrays, a kind of Skate, all very large;
one weighed 336 Pounds. The Grass was long and luxuriant, and
there were some eatable Vegetables, particularly a Sort of wild
Spinage; the Country was well supplied with Water; there was
Abundance of Timber and Fuel, sufficient for any Number of
Buildings, which might be found necessary. Being asked How* a
Colony of that Nature could be subsisted in the Beginning of their
Establishment? he answered. They must certainly be furnished, at
landing, with a full Year’s Allowance of Victuals, Raiment, and
Drink; with all Kinds of Tools for labouring the Earth, and building
Houses; with Black Cattle, Sheep, Hogs, and Poultry; with Seeds
of all Kinds of EUROPEAN Corn and Pulse; with Garden Seeds;
with Arms and Ammunition for their Defence; and they should
likewise have small Boats, Nets, and Fishing-tackle; all of which,
except Arms and Ammunition, might be purchased at the CAPE
OF GOOD HOPE; and that afterwards, with a moderate Portion
of Industry, they might, undoubtedly, maintain themselves
without any Assistance from England, He recommended sending a
large Number of Persons, Two or Three hundred at least; their
Escape would be difficult, as the Country was far distant from
any Part of the Globe inhabited by EUROPEANS. . . . And being
asked. Whether he conceived the Mother Country was likely to
reap any Benefit from a Colony established in BOTANY BAY? he
replied. If the People formed among themselves a Civil Govern-
ment, they would necessarily increase and find Occasion for many
EUROPEAN Commodities; and it was not to be doubted, that a
Tract of Land such as New Holland^ which was larger than the
Whole of EUROPE, would furnish Matter of advantageous Return
(p.311).

[Committee’s Recommendations]

That the Plan of establishing a Colony or Colonies of young
Convicts in some distant Part of the Globe, and in new-discovered
Countries, where the Climate is healthy, and the Means of Support
attainable, is equally agreeable to the Dictates'* of Humanity and

28 SELECT DOQUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

sound ‘Policy, and might prove in the Result advantageous both to
Navigation and Commerce (p. 314).

[Note: For Matra’s and Young’s proposals see H.R.N.S.W., Vol. 1/ Pt 2,
pp. 1-13.]

3. The Decision to Renew Transportation, 1784.

{Statutes at Large ^ Vol. XIV.)

[Note: For the law on transportation and comments see Section 3, A, 1 of
this volume.]

f\n Act for the effectual Transportation of Felons and other
Offenders; and to authorise the Removal of Prisoners in certain
Cases; and for other Purposes therein mentioned. 24 Geo. Ill,
c. 56. (1784.)

Whereas it is expedient to impower his Majesty, with the Advice
of his Privy Council, to appoint certain Places, as well out of his
Majesty’s Dominions as within the same, to which Felons and other
Offenders may be transported, and to make other Regulations for
the more effectual Transportation of such Offenders; may it there-
fore please your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted
by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice
and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons,
in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the
same, That from and after the passing of this Act, when any Person
or Persons, at any Session of Oyer and Terminer, or Gaol Delivery,
or at any Quarter or other General Session of the Peace, to be
holden for any County, Riding, Division, City, Town, Borough,
Liberty, or Place, within that Part of Great Britain called England^
or at any Great Session to be holden for the County Palatine of
Chester^ or within the Principality of Wales, shall be lawfully
convicted of Grand or Petit Larceny, or any other Offence for
which such Person or Persons shall be Liable by the Laws of this
Realm to be transported, it shall and may be lawful for the Court
before which any such Person or Persons shall be so convicted as
aforesaid, or any subsequent Court holden at any Place for the same
County, Riding, Division, City, Town, Borough, Liberty, or Place
respectively, with like Authority, to order and adjudge that such
Person or Persons so convicted as aforesaid shall be transported
beyond the Seas, for any Term of Years, not exceeding the Number
of Years or Term for which such Person or Persons is or are, or
shall be liable by any Law to be transported; and, in every such
Case, it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, by and with the
Advice of his Privy Council, to declare and appoint to what Place
or Places, Part or Parts beyond the Seas, either within his Majesty’s
Dominions, or elsewhere out of his Majesty’s Dominions, such
Felons or other Offenders shall be conveyed or transported; and

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

sach Court as aforesaid is hereby authorised and impowered to
order such Offenders to be transferred to the Use of any Person or
Persons, and his or their Assigns, who shall contract for the due
Performance of such Transportation: And when his Majesty, his
Heirs and Successors, shall be pleased to extend Mercy to any
Offender or Offenders who hath or have been, or shall be convicted
of any Crime or Crimes for which he, she, or they, is, are, or shall be
by Law excluded from the Benefit of Clergy, upon Condition of
Transportation to any Place or Places, Part or Parts beyond the
Seas, either for Term of Life, or any Number of Years, and su^h
Intention of Mercy shall be signified by one of his Majesty’s
Principal Secretaries of State, it shall be lawful for any Court
having proper Authority, to allow such Offender or Offenders the
Benefit of a conditional Pardon, and (except in Cases where such
Offender or Offenders shall be authorised by his Majesty to
transport himself, herself or themselves) to order the Transfer of
such Offender or Offenders to any Person or Persons who shall
contract for the due Performance of such Transportation, and his
or their Assigns, for such and the same Term of Years for which
any such Offender or Offenders *fehall have been ordered to be
transported, or for such Term of Life or Years as shall be specified
in such Condition of Transportation as aforesaid; and such Person
or Persons so contracting as aforesaid, his or their Assigns, by
virtue of such Order of Transfer as aforesaid, shall have a Property
in the Service of such Offender or Offenders, for such Terms
respectively; and when any Offender or Offenders hath or
have been, or shall be convicted of any Crime or Crimes for which
he, she, or they is or are by Law excluded the Benefit of Clergy, the
Judge, before whom such Offender or Offenders shall be convicted,
or any Justice of the King’s Bench, Common Pleas, or Baron of the
Exchequer of the Degree of the Coif, in case the said Offender or
Offenders shall have been tried at any Court of Oyer and Terminer,
or Gaol Delivery, in England^ or any Justice ofChesterov Wales ^ in case
the said Offender or Offenders shall be tried and convicted within any
of their respective Jurisdictions, may, on such Intention of Mercy as
aforesaid being signified to him by one of the said Principal Sec-
retaries of State, make an Order for the immediate Transportation
of such Offender or Offenders, in the same Manner as if such
Intention of Mercy had been signified by one of the said Principal
Secretaries of State during the Continuance of the Assizes or Sessions
at which such Offender or Offenders was or were condemned ; and
such Order shall be considered as an Order made at such Assizes or
Sessions as aforesaid, and shall be as effectual, and have all the
same Consequences as any Order for the Transportation of any
Offender or Offenders made by any Justice of Oyer and Terminer,

30 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
r *■

Great. Session, or Gaol Delivery, for any County, City, Liberty,
Borough, or Place, during the Continuance of the Assizes or
Sessions.

4. Opiniojis on Africa as a Receptacle for Felons, 1785.

(C.J., VoL XL, pp. 955-8.)

Evidence given before Committee inquiring into Transportation

Act of 1784.

^Evan Nepean^ Esquire, being also examined, informed the Com-
mittee, That in consequence of the Representations made to
Government, of the crouded and dangerous State of the Gaols, the
Censor Hulk was hired of Mr Duncan Campbell, for the Reception of
250 Convicts — That the Dunkirk Hulk, a King’s Ship, lying in
Ordinary at Plymouth, was appointed for the Reception of Prisoners
from the Western Gaols; and very lately an old India Man has been
hired by Mr Campbell for the temporary Accommodation of 250
more — That the Censor contains 250, some of whom were originally
sentenced to America; that there are 100 on board the Dunkirk,
of which 40 are under their original Sentences, and the Remainder
are Convicts returned from Transportation, who are remanded to
their original Sentences, except about 10, who are Capital Respites
— That in the Ceres there are about 150, and sufficient Room to
accommodate 100 more — That these are all the Places which have
been appointed for the Reception of Convicts, at least all with
which the Secretaries of State have had any Connection. . . .

yiv. Nepean further acquainted the Committee, That a Plan has
been suggested, for the Transportation of Convicts to the Island
of Lemane, about 400 Miles up the River Gambia — That many other
Places have been submitted to the Secretary of State, but, in his
Opinion this is the Plan which Government will prefer, the African
Company having refused to take any more into their Ports and
Settlements; and that he knows of no other regular Plan offered,
with regard to Africa. . . . — NLy. Nepean further added. That the
Reason why the Persons first named are to be sent to Africa, is, that
they are notorious Felons, who are every Day expected to break
Prison, some of them having already made Attempts to do so, and
are a Class of People too dangerous to remain in this Country; and
it is thought there is no proper Place in America to transport them to,
at least within the King’s Dominions. , . .

Mr. Henry Smeatham, who resided near Four Years on the Coast of
Africa . . . said. That if 200 Convicts were left on an Island in the
River Gambia, without any Medical Assistance than what they might
give to each other, not One in 100 would survive the first Six Months,

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS 31

• •

as Persons long confined in Prisons are peculiarly unfit to str.uggle
with an African Climate. . . .

yiv.^John Boon . . . Surgeon to the Army in Africa . . ,• said, That
from about the Middle of July to the Beginning of November^ Putrid
Fevers usually prevail; and that Fluxes are very general from
December to the End of March; and that the former Disorder is the
most fatal to Europeans, Two Thirds of the King’s Forces ha\dng
perished every Year. . . .

Sir George Toung being also examined, acquainted the Committee,
That he had been Four Times at Gambia and Senegal . . . That he
had always considered Gambia as the most unhealthy Part of the
Coast. . . .

Sir George Toung confirmed the Testimony of other Witnesses with
regard to the Impossibility of restraining a Colony of Convicts,
without Order or Government, within the Limits assigned to them;
and also expressed his Apprehension that none of the Traders,
who now navigate the River in their Long Boats, after such an
Establishment took place would venture up it, for fear of being
plundered. . . . Being further examined as to the Practicability of
Europeans subsisting themselved by Field Labour within the Tropics
he said. That it had never been attempted, as Death would be the
Consequence of their continuing an Hour exposed to the Sun.

5. Recommendations for the Disposal of Convicts. 1785.

(C.J., Vol. XL, pp. 1161-4.)

Lord Beauchamp’s Report from Committee inquiring into Trans-
portation Act of 1784.

Your Committee beg to inform the House, That, in further
Execution of their Orders, they directed their Chairman to apply
to Lord Sydney, His Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Home
Department, for copies of all Plans which have been submitted to
Government for the Transportation of Criminals . . . That his
Lordship, in Answer, informed the Committee, that different Ideas
had been suggested on the Subject, but that such Suggestions were
either made in Conversation, or appeared, from the Nature of
them, unworthy of the Attention of the Committee, and that no
such Plan as was required existed in his Office. , . .

That the Committee are far from arraigning the late Increase in
the Number of public Executions, though they lament them the
more, because these Sacrifices to Public Justice have produced no
other Effect than the Removal of the Offenders in Question; and
that Crimes still multiply, in Defiance of the severest Exertions
of Justice.

32 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

f r

Th^ Committee further observe, That these Mischiefs are in
great Measure to be attributed to the Want of a proper Place for
the Transportation of Criminals — That the old System of Trans-
porting to America^ answered every good Purpose which could be
expected from it — That it tended directly to reclaim the Objects on
which it was inflicted, and to render them good Citizens . . . That it
tended to break, in their Infancy, those Gangs and Combinations
which have since proved so injurious to the Community . . . That
the Colonies seem to have been sensible of the beneficial
Cpnsequences of this Practice — That the Convicts whose Labour
was so purchased were usually removed into the Back Country,
and finding none of the Temptations, in that new State of Things,
which occasioned their Offences at Home, it does not appear that
the Police or Peace of the Colonies suffered in any considerable
Degree by them.

, The Co33p.mittee further observe, on the Nature of Transportation,
that though the next Punishment, in Point of Severity, to a Capital
Sentence, it answers very imperfectly the Purpose of Example — That
though a transported Convict may suffer under his Sentence, his
Sufferings are unseen; That his Chasm is soon filled up, and, being
as soon forgotten, it strikes no Terror into the Minds of those for
whose Correction it was intended to operate, though the Public
may gain very importantly by his Removal. . . .

The Committee observe . . . That, therefore, their Enquiry will
be confined to such Portions of the Continent as are comprehended
in the Limits of no European State — ^That it appears to this
Committee, that a vast Tract of Country, answering this Description,
lies on the West Coast oi Africa^ between Twenty and Thirty Degrees
of South Latitude . . . That this Coast has been seldom visited by
any Europeans^ and that it does not appear that any Settlers whatever
are to be found upon any Part of it, tho’ the Soil is fertile, productive
of the best Herbage, and abounds with great Herds of wild Cattle,
as Sheep, Horses, and Cows, and also all the Animals and Birds
peculiar to the Tropical Climates . . . That in the more Mountain-
ous Parts, particularly near the great River Das Voltas^ there is a
Vein of Copper Ore which contains One Third of pure Metal . . .
That the Bay and River of Das Voltas would be an excellent Place
for the Homeward-bound Indiamen . . . That it might also promote
the Purposes of future Commerce or of future Hostility in the
South Seas. . , ,

The Committee also observe, That if the Convicts are landed
before the Month of November . . . they will have the whole Summer
to raise Habitations, and make other Preparations for their future
Subsistence and Security — That among the Convicts now sentenced
specially to Africa^ or whose Place of Transportation depends on

THE FIRST SETTLE,MENTS^ 33

His Majesty, it will be proper to select for this Service Artificers,
Mechanics, and Husbandmen, though, if the latter should be
wanting, it will not be material, as in such Climates as ^re usually
found between 20 and 30 Degrees of South Latitude, the Cultivation
of Land requires very little Skill or Labour.

The Committee further observe . . . That many American Families
are desirous of settling in any healthy Part of the Globe where they
can rely on the Protection of British Government; and that they
will readily resort to the Coast in Question, under proper Encourage-
ment to do so — That Settlers of this Description will be veyy
Instrumental in keeping the Convicts in due Subordination; and
that their Labour may be assigned over to them, under proper
Restrictions — That if the Colony should flourish and become
numerous, it may prove the Means of Annually relieving the Gaols
of this Kingdom; and that it is desirable to divert the Spirit of
Emigration, which leads so many British Subjects Annually to the
United States, to Countries which are still subject to the Crown of
Great Britain — That all the Discoveries as well as great Commercial
Establishments now existing in distant Parts of the Globe . . . have
opened the Way to the greatest National Advantages. . . .

On considering the Whole of the Subject, the Committee are of
Opinion, That if the Legislature persists in the System of Trans-
porting Criminals to Africa^ the Scheme now suggested is the only
One which appears to them of a practicable Nature; yet, as it will
not answer the Purpose of annual Transportations, unless it becomes
a numerous and flourishing Colony, which will require for many
Years the fostering Hand of the Mother Country, the Committee
recommend the Adoption of it, so far only as the Commercial and
Political Benefits of a Settlement on the South West Coast of Africa
may be deemed of sufficient Consequence to warrant the Expence
inseparable from such an Undertaking, at the same Time that it
restores Energy to the Execution of the Law, and contributes to
the interior Police of this Kingdom.

B. Botany Bay Selected by British Government

6. Pitt Government’s Plan for Botany Bay Settlement. 1786.

(Lord Sydney to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, 18
August 1786. H,R.N.S.W., VoL I, Pt 2, pp. 14-19.)

The several gaols and places for the confinement of felons in this
kingdom being in so crowded a state that the greatest danger is to
be apprehended, not only from their escape, but from infectious
distempers, which may hourly be expected to break out amongst
them, his Majesty, desirous of preventing by every possible means
the ill consequences which might happen froirr either of these

34 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

causes, has been pleased to signify to me his royal commands that
measures should immediately be pursued for sending out of this
kingdom such of the convicts as are under sentence or order of
transportation.

The Nautilus sloop, which, upon the recommendation of a
committee of the House of Commons, had been sent to explore the
southern coast of Africa, in order to find out an eligible situation
for the reception of the said convicts, where from their industry
they might soon be likely to obtain means of subsistence, having
lately returned, and it appearing by the report of her officers that
the several parts of the coast which they examined between 1 5 ° 50 '
south and the latitude of 33 ° 00 ' are sandy and barren, and from
other causes unfit for a settlement of that description, his Majesty
has thought it advisable to fix upon Botany Bay, situated on the
coast of New South Wales, the latitude of about 33 degrees south,
which, according to the accounts given by the late Captain Cook, as
well as the representatives of persons who accompanied him during
his last voyage, and who have been consulted upon the subject, is
looked upon as a place likely to answer the above purposes.

I am, therefore, commanded to signify to your Lordships his
Maiesty^s pleasure that you do forthwith take such measures as
may be necessary for providing a proper number of vessels for the
conveyance of 750 convicts to Botany Bay, together with such
provisions, necessaries, and implements for agriculture as may be
necessary for their use after their arrival. . . .

According to the best opinions that can be obtained, it is supposed
that a quantity of provisions equal to two years’ consumption should
be provided, which must be issued from time to time, according to
the discretion of the superintendent, in the expenditure of which he
will, of course, be guided by the proportion of food which the
country and the labour of the new settlers may produce. . . .

In the meantime, I have only to recommend it to your Lordships
to cause every possible expedition to be used in preparing the
shipping for the reception of the said convicts, and for transporting
the supplies of provisions and necessaries for their use to the place
of their destination.

HEADS OF A PLAN

Heads of a plan for effectually disposing of convicts, and rendering
their transportation reciprocally beneficial both to themselves and
to the State, by the establishment of a colony in New South Wales,
a country which, by the fertility and salubrity of the climate,
connected with the remoteness of its situation (from whence it is
hardly possible for persons to return without permission), seems
peculiarly adapted to answer the views of Government with respect

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT^ 35

to the providing a remedy for the evils likely to result from the late
alarming and numerous increase of felons in this country^ and more
particularly in the metropolis.

It is proposed that a ship of war of a proper class, with a part of
her guns mounted, and a sufficient number of men on board for
her navigation, and a tender of about 200 tons burthen, commanded
by discreet officers, should be got ready as soon as possible to serve
as an escort to the convict ships, and for other purposes hereinafter
mentioned.

That, in addition to their crews, they should take on board two
companies of marines to form a military establishment on shore
(not only for the protection of the settlement, if requisite, against
the natives, but for the preservation of good order), together with
an assortment of stores, utensils, and implements, necessary for
erecting habitations and for agriculture, and such quantities of
provisions as may be proper for the use of the crews.

As many of the marines as possible should be artificers, such as
carpenters, sawyers, smiths, potters (if possible) , and some husband-
men. To have a chaplain on board, with a surgeon, and one mate at
least; the former to remain at the settlement.

That these vessels should touch at the Gape of Good Hope, or any
other places that may be convenient, for any seed that may be
requisite to be taken from thence, and for such live stock as they can
possibly contain, which, it is supposed, can be procured there
without any sort of difficulty, and at the most reasonable rates, for
the use of the settlement at large.

That Government should immediately provide a certain number
of ships of a proper burthen to receive on board at least seven or
eight hundred convicts, and that one of them should be properly
fitted for the accommodation of the women, to prevent their inter-
course with the men.

That these ships should take on board as much provisions as
they can possibly stow, or at least a sufficient quantity for two years’
consumption; supposing one year to be issued at whole allowance,
and the other year’s provisions at half allowance, which will last
two years longer, by which time, it is presumed, the colony, with
the live stock and grain which may be raised by a common industry
on the part of the new settlers, will be fully sufficient for their
maintenance and support.

That, in addition to the crews of the ships appointed to contain
the convicts, a company of marines should be divided between them,
to be employed as guards for preventing ill consequences that might
arise from dissatisfaction amongst the convicts, and for the protection
of the crew in the navigation of the ship from insults that might be
offered by the convicts.

36 SELECT DQ-GUMErfTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

That each of the ships should have on board at least two surgeons’
mates, to attend to the wants of. the sick, and should be supplied
with a proper assortment of medicines and instruments, and that
two of them should remain with the settlement.

After the arrival of the ships which are intended to convey the
convicts, the ship of war and tender may be employed in obtaining
livestock from the Gape, or from the Molucca Islands, a sufficient
quantity of which may be brought from either of those places to the
new settlement in two or three trips ; or the tender, if it should be
thought most adviseable, may be employed in conveying to the
new settlement a further number of women from the Friendly
Islands, New Caledonia, Etc., which are contiguous thereto, and
from whence any number may be procured without difficulty;
and without a sufficient proportion of that sex it is well-known that
it would be impossible to preserve the settlement from gross
irregularihes and disorders.

The whole regulation and management of the settlement should
be committed to the care of a discreet officer, and provision should
be made in all cases, both civil and military, by special instructions
under the Great Seal or otherwise, as may be thought proper.

Upon the whole, it may be observed with great force and truth
that the difference of expence (whatever method of carrying the
convicts thither may be adopted) that this mode of disposing of
them and that of the usual ineffectual one is too trivial to be a
consideration with Government, at least in comparison with the
great object to be obtained by it, expecially now the evil is increased
to such an alarming degree, from the inadequacy of all other
expedients that have hitherto been tried or suggested.

It may not be amiss to remark in favour of this plan that consider-
able advantage will arise from the cultivation of the New Zealand
hemp or flax-plant in the new intended settlement, the supply of
which would be of great consequence to us as a naval power, as
our manufacturers are of opinion that canvas made of it would be
superior in strength and beauty to any canvas made of the European
material, and that a cable of the circumference of ten inches made
from the former would be superior in strength to one of eighteen
inches made of the latter. The threads or filaments of this New
Zealand plant are formed by nature with the most exquisite delicacy,
and may be so minutely divided as to be manufactured into the
finest linens.

Most of the Asiatic productions may also without doubt be
cultivated in the new settlement, and in a few years may render our
recourse to our European neighbours for those productions
unnecessary.

It may also be proper to attend to the possibility of procuring from

THE FIRST SETTLElwIENTS

New Zealand any quantity of masts and ship timber for the use of
our fleets in India, as the distance between the two countries is not
greater than between Great Britain and America. It grows close
to the water’s edge, of size and quality superior to any hitherto
known, and may be obtained without difficulty.

Staff Establishment for the Settlement of New South Wales: —

Temly Salary

£ s. d.
500 0 0

250 0 0

200 0 0

365 0 0
i82 10 0 .

£1,497 10 0

7. Objections to Botany Bay. 1786.

(A. Dalrymple: A Serious Admonition, pp. 17-30.)

We often see men grow giddy, and lose their senses, by being
carried to a great elevation : This happens, not less frequently in the
Political, than in the Natural, World: To what other cause can we
ascribe the Plan of the present Ministry? to send the Convicts [to]
Botany Bay, on the East-Side of NEW HOLLAND, whilst this
country is still smarting for a war with the old Colonies, whom she
found herself unable to keep in dependence. . . .

[Dalrymple then argues that the new colony would involve an
infringement of the East India Company’s charter. At this time
Dalrymple was Hydrographer to the East India Company.]

But surely it becomes a Ministry, who declaimed on their
Predecessors attack of sacred Charters by the Authority of Parlia-
ment! To subvert a Charter! without any sanction of Parliament,
and in direct violation of those Acts of Parliament, which confirm the
exclusive Right in the Charter of the East-India Company. Some men
may, perhaps, think This an Act of a felonious nature, which would
well entitle such Ministers to be sent, with the Convicts already
destined for that exportation: and such an Event might, perhaps,
by some be considered, at least a qualification', if not a compensation,
for the ill consequences to be dreaded from this ill-considered
Plan. . . .

The Plan the Ministry propose, must rather be considered as
encouraging than detering Felons', for, What is the Punishment intended
to be inflicted? Mot to make the Felons undergo servitude for the
benefit of others, as was the Case in America: but to place them, as

The Naval Commander to be appointed Governor or Superin-
tendent-General

The Commanding Officer of the Marines to be appointed
Lieut.-Gov. or Dept. Superintendent
The Commissary of Stores and Provisions, for himself and
assistants (to be appointed or named by the contractors
for the provisions)

Pay of a surgeon . . . . . . . . ;£182 10 0

Ditto of two mates . . . . . . . . ^£182 10 0

Chaplain . .

38 SELECT DpCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Thek own Masters, in a temperate Climate, where they have
every object of comfort or Ambition before them! and although it might
be going too far to suppose, This will incite men to become Convicts^
that they may be comfortably provided for; yet surely it cannot deter
men, inclined to commit Theft and Robbery, to know that, in case
they are detected and convicted, all that will happen to them is,
That they will be sent, at the Publick Expense, to a good Country
and temperate Climate, where they will be their own Masters 1 . . .

If this he considered, it cannot be doubted that an intercourse
kept with New Holland^ would act as a two edged weapon, to promote
smuggling at home, and to cover that worst of all kinds of illicit
Trade, The increase of the Trade of Foreigners, carried out by
Englishmen, The English Property, under false colours: which
though most injurious to THIS COUNTRY, is less the Object of
Ministerial Attention, as its effect on their Darling, the Revenue,
‘being notnmmediate, is not obvious, to their narrow-sighted Policy. . . .

If we had nothing to lose in the EAST, it might be a curious
subject of Political Speculation, to see what kind of Government, a Set
of lawless Ragamuffins would constitute. . . . But We having so
much at Stake, It is, surely Madness, or Folly, to expose our posses-
sions and Commerce in the East Indies, to so much hazard, without
some great and important Motive. . . .

The Security of the Individual is the FIRST OBJECT, for which
men submitted to be governed; and that Government which does not
secure the Individual, is weak or prostituted : but what Man is there,
in London, who can go to bed in safety without a House full of
Servants ?

The alarming Number of Convicts, and the great difficulty of
keeping them in England, without danger to Society, and the many
civil consequences of the Hulks, not to mention the very great
expense, are Facts, too well known, to be doubted or denied, but
reverse of wrong is not right: and although I am an Enemy to the
’ proposed Scheme, I am no Advocate for continuing the present
abominable practice. . . .

If this mad Scheme must go on, I hope we shall not hear of any
Grants of Land to Ministers, or their Friends, whereby this Country
may be linked to that Land of Thieves,

[Note: 1. Dalrymple made two suggestions: {a) that more money should
be spent on improving methods of detection, and (^) that, if a penal colony were
necessary, it should be located at Tristan da Cunha.

2. William Pulteney probably had Dalrymple’s objections in mind when
he wrote to Pitt on 14 September 1786: “I mentioned to Mr. Dundas that a
much better plan had been* proposed to Lord Sidney for disposing of our
felons than that which I see is advertised, that of sending them to Botany Bay.”
(J. H. Rose; Willfam Pitt and National Revival, p. 438. )J

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS^

8. FMllip’s First Commission. 1786.

{H.R.JVS.W., Vol. I, Pt 2, p. 24.)

[Note: For Phillip’s second commission, and the instructions to Phillip, see
H.R.A, I, 1, pp. 2-16.]

George the Third, &c. to our trusty and well-beloved Captain

Arthur Phillip, greeting: —

We, reposing especial trust and confidence in your loyalty, courage,
and experience in military affairs do, by these presents, constitute
and appoint you to be Governor of our territory called New Soulih
Wales, extending from the northern cap>e or extremity of the coast
called Cape York, in the latitude of 10°37 ' South, to the southern
extremity of the said territory of New South Wales or South Cape,
in the latitude of 43 °39 ' South, and of all the country inland to
the westward as far as the one hundred and thirty-fifth degree of
longitude, reckoning from the meridian of Greenwich, including all
the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean, within the latitude
aforesaid of 10°37' south and 43 °39 ' south, and of all towns,
garrisons, castles, forts and all other fortifications or other military
works, which now are or may be hereafter erected upon this said
territory. You are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the
duty of Governor in and over our said territory by doing and
performing all and all manner of things thereunto belonging, and
we do hereby strictly charge and command all our officers and
soldiers who shall be employed within our said territory, and all
others whom it may concern, to obey you as our Governor thereof;
and you are to observe and follow such orders and direction from
time to time as you shall receive from us, or any other of your
superior officers according to the rules and discipline of war, and
likewise such orders and directions as we shall send you under our
signet or sign manual, or by our High Treasurer or Commissioners
of our Treasury for the time being, or one of our Principal Secretaries
of State, in pursuance of the trust we hereby repose in you.

Given at our Court at St. James’s, the twelfth day of October,
1786, in the twenty-sixth year of our reign.

By his Majesty’s command,

SYDNEY.

9. Order for Transportation. 1786.

{H.R.KS,W,, Vol. I, Pt 2, pp. 30-1.)

Whereas by the Act passed in the twenty-fourth year of the reign
of his present Majesty, intituled ^‘An Act for tne effectual trans-
portation of felons and other offenders, and to authorize the removal
of prisoners in certain cases, and for other purposes therein
mentioned,” it is enacted that from and after the passing of the
said Act when any person or persons at any session of oyer and

40 SELECT DcOGUME^NTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

terminer or gaol delivery or at any Quarter or other General
Session of the Peace, to be holden for any county, riding, division,
city, towh, borough, liberty, or place within that part of Great
Britain called England, or at any great Session to be holden for the
county palatine of Chester, or within the Principality of Wales,
shall be convicted of fraud or petty larceny, or any other offence
for which such person or persons shall be liable by the laws of this
realm to be transported: It shall and may be lawful for the court
before which any person or persons shall be so convicted as aforesaid,
f>r any subsequent court holden at any place for the said county,
riding, division, city, town, borough, liberty, or place, respectively,
with like authority to order and adjudge that such person or
persons so convicted as aforesaid shall be transported beyond the
seas for any term of years not exceeding the number of years or
term for which such person or persons is or are or shall be liable by
'any law^to be transported; and in every such case it shall and may
be lawful for his Majesty, by and with the advice of his Privy
Council, to declare and appoint to what place or places, part or
parts, beyond the seas, either within his Majesty’s dominions or
elsewhere out of his Majesty’s dominions, such felons or other
offenders shall be conveyed or transported. . . .

And whereas it hath been represented to his Majesty that the
several offenders whose names are contained in the list hereunto
annexed have been transported or ordered to be transported to
parts beyond the seas, his Majesty doth hereby judge fit, by and
with the advice of his Privy Council, to declare and appoint the
place to which the several offenders shall be transported for the
term or terms of their several sentences mentioned to be the eastern
coast of New South Wales, or some one or other of the islands
adjacent; and all persons whom it may concern are to give the
necessary directions for causing the said several offenders to be
conveyed or transported to the eastern coast of New South Wales,
or some one or other of the islands adjacent, in the manner directed
by the said Act.

[Note: At the Council held on 22 December 1786 a similar order was made
for women. These, and others previously sentenced to be transported to America,
“shall be transported to the eastern coast of New South Wales, or some one
or other of the islands adjacent.”]

10* King’s Speech at Opening of Parliament. 1787.

{ParL Hist, Vol. XXVI, p. 211.)

A plan has been formed, by my direction, for transporting a
number of convicts, in order to remove the inconvenience which
afose from the •crowded state of the gaols in different parts of the

THE FIRST SETTLEl^ENTS 41

kingdom; and you will, I doubt not, take such measures as may be
necessary for this purpose.

G. The First Fleet

11. The Transports. 1786-7.

(Lieut. P. G. King’s Journal, VoL II, pp. 513-15.)

The transports taken up for ye service are as follows, as well as
their complements of seamen, marines, and convicts embarked o^
board them at the time of our leaving England : —

Alexander, 452 tons, 30 seamen, 35 marines, 194 convicts.

Lady Penrhyn, 333 tons, 30 seamen, 3 officers of m’s, 101
females.

Charlotte, 335 tons, 30 seamen, 42 marines, 86 male and 20
female convicts.

Scarboro’, 430 tons, 30 seamen, 44 marines, 205 male convicts.

Friendship, 274 tons, 25 seamen, 40 marines, 76 male and 21
female.

Prince of Wales, 350 tons, — seamen, 29 mar’s, 2 male and 47
female convicts.

Fishburn, victualler and agents’ ship, of 378 tons, 22 men.

Golden Grove, do., 335 tons, 22 men.

Barradale [Borrowdale], do., 275 tons, 22 men.

The terms of contract with the owners of the above ships are
10 shillings p. ton. p. month till their arrival at Deptford, except the
Lady Penrhyn, Charlotte and Scarboro’, which ships are no longer
in the service when they are cleared of their cargoes in Botany Bay,
and from that time their contract ceases with Government, and they
begin a new one with the East India Company, on whose account
they go to China for a cargo of tea to carry to England. Lieutenant
Shortland, of the Navy, has the appointment of Agent of Trans-
ports, and is to return to England with the other three transports
and ye three storeships the instant the Governor has no further
occasion for them. The transports are fitted up for the convicts the
same as for carrying troops, except the security, which consists in
very strong and thick bulkheads, filled with nails and run across
from side to side ’tween decks abaft the mainmast, with loop-
holes to fire between decks in case of irregularities. The hatches are
well secured down by cross-bars, bolts, and locks, and are likewise
rail’d round from deck to deck with oak stanchions. There is also a
barricadoe of plank about 3 feet high, armed with pointed prongs
of iron, on the upper deck abaft the mainmast, to prevent any
connection between the marines and the ship’s company with the
convicts. Centinels are placed at the different hatchways, and a

42 SELECT DpCUMEJ^TS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

guard always under arms on the quarter-deck of each transport, in
order to prevent any improper behaviour of the convicts, as well
as to guard ag’t any surprise. Each transport has on board ascertain
quantity of each kind of utensils proper for agriculture, as well as a
distribution of other stores for the use of the colony, so distributed
that an accident happening to one ship would not have those
disagreeable consequences which must be the case if ye whole of one
species of stores was on board each ship. The victuallers are loaded
with two years’ provisions of all species for the marines, convicts,
fee., for two years from the time of their landing in New
South Wales.

12. Phillip’s Views on the Conduct of the Expedition. 1787.

{H.R.K,S.W., Vol. I, Pt 2, pp. 50-3.)

[Note: This extract is based on some scraps of paper in Phillip’s handwriting.]
By arriving at the settlement two or three months before the
transports many and very great advantages would be gained.
Huts would be ready to receive the convicts who are sick, and
they would find vegetables, of which it may naturally be supposed
they will stand in great need, as the scurvy must make a great
ravage amongst people naturally indolent and not cleanly. . . .
As I would not wish convicts to lay the foundations of an empire,
I think they should ever remain separated from the garrison,
and other settlers that may come from Europe, and not be allowed
to mix with them, even after the 7 or 14 years for which they are
transported may be expired.

The laws of this country will, of course, be introduced in [New]
South Wales, and there is one that I would wish to take place
from the moment his Majesty’s forces take possession of the country:
That there can be no slavery in a free land, and consequently
no slaves.

[Note: For Phillip’s opinions on the preparations for the journey see
Vol. I, Pt 2, pp. 56-9.]

13. Exiles. 1787.

(W. Tench: Karrative of the Expedition^ p. 6.)

In the transports were embarked four captains, twelve sub-
alterns, twenty-four serjeants and corporals, eight drummers, and
one hundred and sixty private marines, making the whole of
the military force, including the Major Commandant on board
the Sirius, to consist of two hundred and twelve persons, of whom
two hundred and ten were volunteers. The number of convicts
was five hundred and sixty-five men, one hundred and ninety-
two women, and eighteen children; the major part of the prisoners

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS^ 43

were mechanics and husbandmen, selected on purpose by order
of Government. . . .

By ten o’clock 13th May, 1787 we had got clear of the Isle of
Wight, at which time, having little pleasure- in conversing with
my own thoughts, I strolled down among the convicts, to observe
their sentiments at this juncture. A very few excepted their coun-
tenances indicated a high degree of satisfaction though in some,
the pang of being severed, perhaps for ever, from their native
land, could not be wholly suppressed; in general, marks of distress
were more perceptible among the men than the women; for*I
recollect to have seen but one of those affected on the occasion,
“Some natural tears she dropp’d, but wip’d them soon.” After
this the accent of sorrow was no longer heard; more genial skies
and change of scene banished repining and discontent, and intro-
duced iii their stead cheerfulness and acquiescence in a lot, now
not to be altered.

14* Arrival at Botany Bay* 1788.

(W. Tench: Narrative of the Expedition^ pp. 45-7.)

The wind was now [19th January] fair, the sky serene, though
a little hazy, and the temperature of the air delightfully pleasant:
joy sparkled in every countenance, and congratulations issued
from every mouth. Ithaca itself was scarcely more longed for by
Ulysses, than Botany Bay by the adventurers who had travelled
so many thousand miles to take possession of it.

“Heavily in clouds came on the day” which ushered in our
arrival. To us it was “a great, an important day,” though I hope
the foundation, not the fall, of an empire will be dated from it. . . .

Thus, after a passage of exactly thirty-six weeks from Ports-
mouth, we happily efected our arduous undertaking, with such
a train of unexampled blessings, as hardly ever attended a fleet
in a like predicament. ... To what cause are we to attribute
this unhoped for success? I wish I could answer to the liberal
manner in which Government supplied the expedition. But when
the reader is told, that some of the necessary articles allowed
to ships on a common passage to the West Indies, were with-held
from us; that portable soup, wheat, and pickled vegetables were
not allowed; and that an inadequate quantity of essence of malt
was the only antiscorbutic supplied, his surprise will redouble
at the result of the voyage. For it must be remembered, that the
people thus sent out were not a ship’s company with every advan-
tage of health and good living, which a state of freedom produces ;
but the major part a miserable set of convicts, emaciated from
confinement, and in want of cloaths, and almost every convenience
to render so long a passage tolerable.

,44 SELECT DaCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

15. No Mean AcMevement. 1788.

(D. Collins: English Colony in New South Wales^ Vol. I, pp. 1-2.)

Thus, under the blessing of God, was happily completed, in
eight months and one week, a voyage which, before it was under-
taken, the mind hardly dared venture to contemplate, and on
which it was impossible to reflect without some apprehension
as to its termination. This fortunate completion of it, however,
afforded even to ourselves as much matter of surprise as of general
satisfaction; for in the above space of time we had sailed five
tSousand and twenty-one leagues; had touched at the American
and African continents; and had at last I'ested within a few days
sail of the antipodes of our native country, without meeting any
accident in a fleet of eleven sail, nine of which were merchantmen that
had never before sailed in that distant and imperfectly explored
ocean: and when it is considered, that there was on board a large
body of convicts, many of whom were embarked in a very sickly
state, we might be deemed peculiarly fortunate, that of the whole
number of all descriptions of persons coming to form the new settle-
ment, only thirty-two had died since their leaving England, among
whom were to be included one or two deaths by accidents ; although
previous to our departure it was generally conjectured, that before
we should have been a month at sea one of the transports would have
been converted into an hospital ship. But it fortunately happened
otherwise; the high health which was apparent in every counte-
nance was to be attributed not only to the refreshments we met with
at Rio de Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope, but to the excellent
quality of the provisions with which we were supplied by Mr.
Richards junior, the contractor; and the spirits visible in every eye
were to be ascribed to the general joy and satisfaction which
immediately took place on finding ourselves arrived at that port
which had been so much and so long the subject of our most serious
reflections, the constant theme of our conversations.

D. The First Five Years

(a) SELECTION OF SITE AT PORT JACKSON

16. Sydney Cove selected by Phillip. 1788.

(Phillip to Sydney, 15 May 1788. H.R.NS.W,, Vol. I, Pt 2,

pp. 121-2.)

The Supply, sailing very badly, had not permitted my gaining the
advantage hoped for, but I began to examine the bay as soon as we
anchored, and found, that tho’ extensive, it did not afford shelter
to ships from the easterly winds ; the greater part of the bay being
so slioal that ships of even a moderate draught of water are obliged

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS 45

to anchor with the entrance of the bay open, and are exposed- to a
heavy sea that rolls in when it blows hard from the eastward.

Several small runs of fresh water were found in differemt parts of
the bay* but I did not see any situation to which there was not some
very strong objection. The small creek that is in the northern part of
the bay runs a considerable way into the country, but it had only
water for a boat. The sides of this creek are frequently overflowed,
and the lowlands a swamp. The western branch runs up for a
considerable distance, but the officers I sent to examine it could not
find any water except in very small drains.

The best situation that offered was near Point Sutherland, where
there was a small run of good water; but the ground near it, as well
as a considerable part of the higher ground, was spongy, and the
ships could not approach this part of the bay.

Several good situations offered for a small number of people, but
none that appeared calculated for our numbers, and vdiere the-
stores and provisions could be landed without a great loss of time.
When I considered the bay’s being so very open, and the probability
of the swamps rendering the most eligible situation unhealthy, I
judged it advisable to examine Port Jackson; but that no time might
be lost if I did not succeed in finding a better harbour, and a proper
situation for the settlement, the ground near Point Sutherland was
in the meantime to be cleared and preparations made for landing
under the direction of the Lieutenant Governor.

As the time in which I might be absent, if I went in the Supply,
must have been very uncertain, I went round with three boats,
taking with me Captain Hunter and several officers, that by exam-
ining different parts of the port at the same time less time might
be lost.

We got into Port Jackson early in the afternoon, and had the
satisfaction of finding the finest harbour in the world, in which a
thousand sail of the line may ride in the most perfect security, and
of which a rough survey, made by Captain Hunter, and the officers
of the Sirius after the ships came round, may give your Lordship
some idea.

The different coves were examined with all possible expedition.
I fixed on the one that had the best springs of water, and in which
the ships can anchor so -close to the shore that at a very small
expence quays may be made at which the largest ships may unload.

This cove which I honoured with the name of Sydney, is about a
quarter of a mile across at the entrance, and half a mile in length.

We returned to Botany Bay the third day, where I received a
very unfavourable account of the ground that was clearing.

The ships immediately prepared to go round, and the 25th —
seven days after I arrived in the Supply — I sailed Jn her for Port

46 SELECT D^OGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Jackson, leaving Captain Hunter to follow with the transports, it
then blowing too strong for them to work out of the bay. They joined
me the next evening, and all the transports were moored in the cove.

[Note: Sydney was named after Lord Sydney. The transports were moored
on 26 January, the day now observed as Anniversary Day. The British flag was
unfurled at the head of Sydney Cove, toasts were drunk, and volleys of musketry
fired, but the formal proclamation of the Colony did not take place until
7 February.]

(b) THE ENVIRONMENT

17. Port Jackson through the eyes of Watkin Tench. 1788.

(W. Tench: Karrative of the Expedition, pp. 118-30.)

The general face of the country is certainly pleasing, being
diversified with gentle ascents, and little winding vallies, covered
for the most part with large spreading trees, which afford a succes-
'sion of leaves in all seasons. In those places where trees are scarce, a
variety of flowering shrubs abound, most of them entirely new to an
European, and surpassing in beauty, fragrance, and number, all I
ever saw in an uncultivated state : among these, a tall shrub, bearing
an elegant white flower, which smells like English May, is partic-
ularly delightful, and perfumes the air around to a great distance.
The species of trees are few, and, I am concerned to add, the wood
universally of so bad a grain, as almost to preclude a possibility of
using it : the increase of labour occasioned by this in our buildings
has been such, as nearly to exceed belief. . . .

The nature of the soil is various. That immediately round Sydney
cove is sandy, with here and there a stratum of clay. From the land
we have yet been able to draw very little; but there seems no reason
to doubt, that many large tracts of land around us will bring to
perfection whatever shall be sown in them. To give this matter a
fair trial, some practical farmers capable of such an undertaking
should be sent out. . . .

Fresh water ... is found but in inconsiderable quantities. For the
common .purposes of life there is generally enough, but we know of
no stream in the country capable of turning a mill : and the remark
made by Mr Anderson, of the dryness of the country round Adven-
ture Bay, extends without, exception to every part of it which we
have penetrated. . . .

Fish, which our sanguine hopes led us to expect in great quantities,
do not abound. In summer they are tolerably plentiful, but for some
months past very few have been taken. . . .

The climate is undoubtedly very desirable to live in. In summer the
heats are usually moderated by the sea breeze, which sets in early;
and in winter the degree of cold is so slight as to occasion no
inconvenience;- once or twice we have had hoar frosts and hail, but

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS'

47.

no appearance of snow. The thermometer has never risen beyond
84, nor fallen lower than 35, in general it stood in the beginning of
February at between 78 and 74 at noon. Nor is the temperature of
the air less healthy than pleasant. Those dreadful putrid fevers by
which new countries are so often ravaged, are unknown to us ; and
excepting a slight diarrhoea, which prevailed soon after we had
landed, and was fatal in very few instances, we are strangers to
epidemic diseases.

18. Phillip’s Impressions of his Task. 1788.

(Phillip to Sydney, 15 May 1788. H.RA. I, 1, pp. 19-23.)

Your Lordship will permit me to observe that our situation tho’
so very different from what might be expected, is nevertljeless the.
best that offered. My instructions did not permit me to detain the
transports a sufficient length of time, to examine the coast to any
considerable distance, it was absolutely necessary to be certain of a
sufficient quantity of fresh water, in a situation that was healthy, and
which the ships might approach within a reasonable distance for the
conveniency of landing the stores and provisions, and I am fully
persuaded that we should never have succeeded had it been attempt-
ed to move them only one mile from where they were landed. There
are some parts of this harbour where the trees stand at a consider-
able distance from each other, and where there are small runs of
water, which shall be cultivated when our numbers permit, and
when the country inland can be examined. I make no doubt but
some good situations will be found that have water, which I have
never yet been able to find, either in Botany Bay or in this harbour,
but in very small streams.

Some land that is near, and where the trees stand at a consider-
able distance from each other, will, as soon as convicts can be spared,
be cultivated by the officers for raising a little corn for their stock;
and this I have endeavoured to promote as much as possible, for I fear
the consequence if a ship be lost in her passage out with provisions.

As there are only twelve convicts who are carpenters, as many as
could be procured from the ships have been hired to work on the
hospital and store-houses. The people were healthy when landed,
but scurvy has, for some time, appeared amongst them, and now
rages in a most extraordinary manner. Only sixteen carpenters
could be hired from the ships, and several of the convict carpenters
were sick. It was now the middle of February; the rains began to
fall very heavy, and pointed out the necessity of hutting people ;
convicts were therefore appointed to assist the detachment in this
work. . . .

48 SELECT DOGUMErNTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Your Lordship will not be surprized that I have been under the
necessity of assembling a Criminal Court. Six men were condemned
to death/ One, who was the head of the gang, was executed the
same day; the others I reprieved. They are to be exiled from the
settlement, and when the season permits, I intend they shall be
landed near the South Cape, where, by their forming connexions
with the natives, some benefit may accrue to the public. These men
had frequently robbed the stores and the other convicts. The one
who suffered and two others were condemned for robbing the stores
of provisions the very day they received a week’s provisions, and at
which time their allowance, as settled by the Navy Board, was the
same as the soldiers, spirits excepted ; the others for robbing a tent,
and for stealing provisions from other convicts.

The great labour in clearing the ground will not permit more
than eight acres to be sown this year with wheat and barley. At
'the samfe time the immense number of ants and field-mice will
render our crops very uncertain.

Part of the live stock brought from the Cape, small as it was, has
been lost, and our resource in fish is also uncertain. Some days
great quantities are caught, but never sufficient to save any part of
the provisions ; and at times fish are scarce.

Your Lordship will, I presume, see the necessity of a regular
supply of provisions for four or five years, and of clothing, shoes and
frocks in the greatest proportion. The necessary implements for
husbandry and for clearing the ground brought out will with diffi-
culty be made to serve the time that is necessary for sending out a
fresh supply.

The labour of the convicts shall be, as is directed, for the public
stock, but it is necessary to permit a part of the convicts to work for
the officers, who, in our present situation, would otherwise find it
impossible to clear a sufficient quantity of ground to raise what is
absolutely necessary to support the little stock they have ; and I am
to request that your Lordship will be pleased to direct me to what
extent that indulgence may be granted the officers of the garrison.

The Sirius shall be sent to the northward to barter for stock, and
which shall be employed solely for the purpose of increasing the breed
of such cattle as she may procure. The Supply is no ways calculated
for this service, as in the least sea her decks are full of water.

The very small proportion of females makes the sending out an
additional number absolutely necessary, for I am certain your
Lordship will think that to send for women from the Islands, in our
present situation, would answer no other purpose than that of
bringing them to pine away in misery.

[Note: For the 'right of Phillip to makt grants of land see H.R,A. I, 1, p. 7.]

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS^ 49

19. Formation of the New South Wales Corps. 1789.

(Sir George Yonge to Grose, 8 June 1789. Vol. I,

Pt 2, pp. 249-50.)

I have the honour to acquaint you the King has been pleased to
order that a corps shall be forthwith raised under your command
for H.M.’s service abroad, with the particular view of being
stationed in the settlement of New South Wales. The corps is to
consist of four companies, and each company of 1 captain, 1
lieutenant, 1 ensign, 3 sergeants, 3 corporals, 2 drummers, with
67 private men. It is to be under your command as major, with tK^
command of a company, and to have 1 adjutant, 1 qr.-mr., 1
chaplain, 1 surgeon, and 1 surgeon’s mate. The pay of the officers is
to commence from the dates of their commissions, which will date
from the Beating Order, but are not to be issued until the corps
shall have been reviewed and established, and the pay of the non-
commissioned officers and private men from the date^ of their*
respective attestations. It is to be clearly understood that none of the
officers who shall obtain appointments in your corps are to expect
leave to dispose of their present commissions, but they will be
considered as purchasers in the new corps. In case the corps shall be
reduced after it has been once established the officers will be entitled
to half-pay. Yourself and the three captains now to be appointed by
H. M. will each be required to raise a complete company (viz., 3
sergeants, 3 corporals, 2 drummers, and 67 private men), in aid of
the expenses of which you will be allowed to name the lieutenant
and ensign of your respective companies, and to receive from the
public three guineas for every recruit approved at the head-
quarters of the corps by a general or field officer appointed for that
purpose. The lieutenants are to be selected from the rank of ensigns;
the ensigns not to be under sixteen years of age; no recruit to be
enlisted under five feet four inches and a half in height, nor under
sixteen nor above thirty years of age. The names of the captains shall
be communicated to you with as little delay as possible. In the
meantime, I am to acquaint you that H. M. is pleased to leave to
you the nomination of the adjutant and quar.-mar., as also of the
chaplain, who must positively engage to embark with the corps,
and to remain with it while abroad, and of whose character I shall
expect to be furnished with proper certificates before I propose his
appointment to his Majesty. Mr. Adair, Surgeon-general to the
Army, will be directed to look out for proper persons for the appoint-
ment of surgeon and surgeon’s mate. I am to add that being required
that the corps shall be instantly raised and approved, after being
reviewed by the 1st of October next, every exertion on your part
and of that of the officers of your corps will be necessary that H. M.’s
expectations on this head may not be disappointed^

30 SELECT D 9 GUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
(d) THE HUMAN MATERIAL — THE LEADERS

20. A Laiid with Limited Prospects. 1788.

(VV. Tench: Narmtive of the Expedition^ pp. 138-43.)

If only a receptacle for convicts be intended this place stands
unequalled from the situation, extent, and na'^re of the country.
When viewed in a commercial light, I fear its insignificance will
appear very striking. The New Zealand hemp, of which so many
sanguine expectations were formed, is not a native of the soil; and
Norfolk Island, where we made sure to find this article, is also
without it. So that the scheme of being able to assist the East Indies
with naval stores, in case of a war, must fall to the ground, both from
its deficiency and the quality of the timber growing here. . . . after
what we have seen, the idea of being soon able to breed cattle
sufficient for our consumption, must appear chimerical and absurd.
From alL which it is evident, that should Great Britain neglect to
send out regular supplies, the most fatal consequences will ensue. . . .
to men of small property, unambitious of trade, and wishing for
retirement, I think the continent of New South Wales not without
inducements. One of this description, with letters of recommend-
ation, and a sufficient capital (after having provided for his passage
hither) to furnish him with an assortment of tools for clearing land,
agricultural and domestic purposes; possessed also of a few house-
hold utensils, a cow, a few sheep and breeding sows, would, I am
of opinion, with proper protection and encouragement, succeed in
obtaining a comfortable livelihood, were he well assured before he
quitted his native country, that a provision for him until he might
be settled, should be secured; and that a grant of land on his
arrival would be allotted him. . . .

To men of desperate fortune and the lowest classes of the people,
unless they can procure a passage as indented servants, similar to
the custom practised of emigrating to America, this part of the
world offers no temptation: for it can hardly be supposed, that
Government will be fond of maintaining them here until they can
be settled, and without such support they must starve.

21. Was TLe British Government Neglecting the Colony? 1790.

(Extract from a letter by a Surgeon’s Mate. H,R.N.S.W., Vol. II,
pp. 770-1.)

[Note: For a similar comment see Chief Surgeon White to Mr Still, 17 April
1790. H.R.N,S.W,, Vol. I, Pt 2, pp. 332-3.]

It is now so long since we have heard from home that our clothes
are worn threadbare. We begin to think the mother country has
entirely forsaken us. As for shoes, my stock has been exhausted these
six months, and I have been obliged since that time to beg and

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

borrow among the gentlemen, for no such article was to be bought.
In this deplorable situation famine is staring us in the face. Two
ounces of pork is the allowance of animal food for four-afid-twenty
hours, and happy is the man that can kill a rat or crow to make him
a dainty meal. We have raised some excellent vegetables, but such
food, without the mixture of the animals, does not supply strength,
but keeps us lax and weakly. I dined most heartily the other day on
a fine dog, and I hope I shall soon again have an invitation to a
similar repast. The animals that were meant to stock the country
are almost all butchered. Hunger will be appeased while any
eatable remains.

Several of the convicts have perished by the hands of the natives,
by rambling too far into the woods. I accompanied two of our
gentlemen on a shooting party. We penetrated near thirty miles in
two days over a delightful country, free from underwood, when we
arrived at a rapid river [the Nepean] that was not fordable* On the*
other side the country seemed to be in a state of romantic ^d
uncultivated nature., The landscape was finished by a range of hills
that rise one above another, in a very grand style, to a considerable
height.

The loss of the Sirius was the first cause of our being put to such
short allowance, being obliged to supply the party a second time
from the common stock. To prevent murmuring, officers and men
share alike.

Our births have far exceeded our burials; and what is very
remarkable, women who were supposed past child-bearing, and
others who had not been pregnant for fifteen or sixteen years,
have lately become mothers.

22. Phillip Obliged to leave New South Wales. 1792.

(Phillip to Dundas, 11 October 1792- H,R.A, I, 1, pp. 397-8.)

You are, sir, pleased to express your regret at my being obliged to
return to England on account of my health, and I feel much
satisfaction from the manner in which that circumstance is
mentioned.

How far that part of your letter to which the above alludes may
have been intended to convey to me his Majesty’s permission to
return, I am doubtful, and although I am inclined to think it has
been written with that intention, and feel how necessary it is for me
to give up, at least for a time, the charge of this Government, which
is very far from what I wish to do at the moment, the colony is
approaching to that state in which I have so long and anxiously
wished to see it; still, sir, I fear there is a possibility of its being
expected that I should remain until permission to quit the Govern-

. 52 SELECT DOGUME'NTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

merit is more fully and clearly expressed; and as there appears to be
a wish that I should remain in this country some time longer, I
shall await the arrival of the next ships.

(e) THE HUMAN MATERIAL THE CONVICTS

23, Slow Progress Partly Due to Attitude of Convicts. 1788.

(Phillip to Sydney, 9 July 1788. H,RA, I, 1, pp. 46-7.)

. . . every day proves the necessity of proper persons being sent out to
Superintend the convicts. If a small number of carpenters and
bricklayers are sent out with proper people, who are capable of
superintending the convicts, they will soon be rendered serviceable
to the State, and without which they will remain for years a burden
to Government. Numbers of them have been brought up from their
infancy in such indolence that they would starve if left to themselves;
‘and marfy (their numbers now exceed fifty), from old age and dis-
orders which are incurable, and with which they were sent from
England, are incapable of any kind of work.

Thus situated, your Lordship will excuse my observing a second
time that a regular supply of provisions from England will be
absolutely necessary for four or five years, as the crops for two years
to come cannot be depended on for more than what will be neces-
sary for seed, and what the Sirius may procure can only be to breed
from. Should necessity oblige us to make use of what that ship may
be able to procure, I do not apprehend that the live-stock she will
bring in twelve months will be more than a month’s provision for
the colony; and the Supply is totally unfit for a service
of this kind. ...

I should hope that few convicts will be sent out this year or the
next, unless they are artificers, and after what I have had the honour
of observing to your Lordship I make no doubt that proper people
will be sent to superintend them. The ships that bring out convicts
should have at least the two years’ provisions on board to land
with them, for the putting the convicts on board some ships and the
provisions that were to support them in others, as was done, I beg
leave to observe, much against my intimation, must have been fatal
if the ship carrying the provisions had been lost.

24. Creditable Behaviour of Convicts. 1788.

(W. Tench: Complete Account^ p. 3.)

On the convicts the burden fell yet heavier: necessity compelled
us to allot to them the most slavish and laborious employments. . . .
Severity was rarely exercised on them; and justice was administered
without partiality or discrimination. Their ration of provisions,
except in being* debarred from an allowance of spirits, was equal to

THE FIRST SETTL-EMEN'SS

that which the marines received. Under these circumstances I
record with pleasure, that they behaved better than had been
predicted of them. — ^To have expected sudden arfd complete
reformation of conduct, were romantic and chimerical.

25. A Convict Writes Home. 1790.

(From the Gazetteer^ 29 December 1790. H.R.N.S.W,, Vol. II,
p. 758.)

I seize this opportunity of letting you know, by a vessel that will
sail very soon, our wretched situation, which has been occasioned by
the miscarriage of our supplies, and that perhaps you have not yet
heard of. To give a just description of the hardships that the
meanest of us endure, and the anxieties suffered by the rest, is more
than I can pretend to. In all the Crusoe-like adventures I ever read
or heard of, I do not recollect anything like it; for though you may
be told of the quantity of salt meat that is allowed us, its quality in
boiling does not make it above half as much, besides other inconven-
iences I cannot now mention, and which I think make so many of
the children very unhealthy. On the same account, I believe few of
the sick would recover if it was not for the kindness of the Rev. Mr.
Johnson, whose assistance out of his own stores makes him the
physician both of soul and body. All our improvements, except our
gardens, have lately been quite at a stand, neither do I think they
will go on again till we have more assistance from England. God
only knows what our Governor thinks of it, or what word he has sent
home; but for my part, from the highest to the lowest, I see nobody
that is so contented as they were at first. We fear the troops, and they
are not contented with seeing those who live better than themselves,
nor with us who live worse; and I think if the savages knew that we
were as short of powder as we are of provisions they would soon be
more daring than they are. We have heard that some convicts at
home, who might have been pardoned for capital crimes, have
chosen their former sentence rather than come here; and which,
though it was contradicted, we cannot help^ thinking is true. We
cannot tell, if they have heard of our situation, how it could be,
unless from the Gape or Norfolk Island, which we hear no more from
than from England. We had some Jews and Dutchmen from thence
that would have settled if they had thought it worth while. I should
now be very glad of the things I refused to take with me when I
came from London, and hope you will venture to send some needles
and blue thread; for, as the cloaths are all wore out that we brought
from home, we are mostly in our Woolwich dresses, and the women
look like gypsies. But to be serious. We have had so many dis-
appointments about arrivals, &c., that the sullen reserve of super-
iority has only increased our apprehensions; ana some of the most

54 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

ignorant have no other idea than that they are to be left by the
troops and the shipping to perish by themselves ! And really, if you
was to see with what ardent expectations some of the poor wretches
watch an opportunity, of looking out to sea, or the tears that are
often shed upon the infants at the breast, you must have feelings
that otherwise you never could have any experience of.

26. Convicts of Little Use as Settlers. 1790.

(Phillip to Grenville, 17 July 1790. H.R.A, I, 1, pp. 195-7.)

Experience, sir, has taught me how difficult it is to make men
industrious who have passed their lives in habits of vice and
indolence. In some cases it has been found impossible; neither
kindness nor severity have had any effect; and tho’ I can say that
the convicts in general behave well, there are many who dread
punishment less than they fear labour; and those who have not been
brought up to hard work, which are by far the greatest part, bear it
badly. They shrink from it the moment the eye of the overseer is
turned from them. . . .

I do not [wish] for many farmers to be sent out as superintend-
ents, for few farmers will be found equal to the charge of a consider-
able number of convicts ; but if two good men could be found, who,
as well as being good husbandmen, had sufficient spirit to discharge
the trust which must repose in them, they will be of great use. They
will be necessary as the number of convicts increase, and the more
so as the person who at present has that charge will not settle in the
country. It was supposed that a sufficient number of good farmers
might have been found amongst the convicts to have superintended
the labours of the rest; and men have been found who answer the
purpose of preventing their straggling from their work, but none of
them are equal to the charge of directing the labour of a number of
convicts, with whom most of them are linked by crimes they would
not wish to have brought forward, and very few of the convicts have
been found to be good farmers. . . .

I wish, sir, to point out the great difference between a settlement
formed as this is and one formed by farmers and emigrants who
have been used to labour, and who reap the fruits of their own
industry. Amongst the latter few are idle or useless, and they feel
themselves interested in their different employments. On the
contrary, amongst the convicts we have few who are inclined to be
industrious, or who feel themselves anyways interested in the
advantages which are to accrue from their labours, and we have
many who are helpless and a dead-weight on the settlement. Many
of those helpless wretches who were sent out in the first ships are
dead, and the numbers of those who remained are now consider-

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT^

ably increased.^ I will, sir, insert an extract from the surgeon’s
report, who I directed to examine these people.

''After a careful examination of the convicts, I find .upwards of
one hundred who must ever be a burden to the settlement, not being
able to do any kind of labour, from old age and chronical diseases of
long standing. Amongst the females there is one who has lost the
use of her limbs upwards of three years, and amongst the males two
are perfect idiots.”

Such are the people sent from the different gaols and from the
hulks, where it is said the healthy and the artificers are retaintd.
The sending out of the disordered and the helpless clears the gaols,
and may ease the parishes from which they are sent; but, sir, it is
obvious that this settlement, instead of being a colony which is to
support itself, will if the practice is continued, remain for years a
burthen to the mother country. The desire of giving you a full and
clear information on this head has made me enter into |;his detail.
Of the nine hundred and thirty males sent out by the last ships, two
hundred and sixty-one died on board and fifty have died since
landing. The number of sick this day is four hundred and fifty; and
many who are not reckoned as sick have barely strength to attend to
themselves. Such is our present state; and when the last ships
arrived we had not sixty people sick in the colony. But, sir, I hope the
many untoward circumstances which the colony has hitherto met
with are now done away; and I flatter myself that after two years
from this time we shall not want any further supply of flour.

27. Reflections of a Pickpocket. 1791.

(Extract from letter of George Barrington to his wife.

Vol. II, p. 771.)

[Note: For the career of Barrington see the article on him in the Australian
Enc)clopaedia,1

Mary and Ann, transport, Plymouth,

2nd March, 1791.

Our departure from Newgate was so sudden it was utterly
impossible to leave you even a single word. We had not the least
notice of it till four o’clock in the morning; and before we could well
get the better of the shock three hundred and nineteen of us were
conveyed to the river-side. Dreadful reflection! The unfortunate
wretches were all of them loaded with irons and chained together
except me, who was permitted to walk unfettered between the
Sheriff and Mr. Akerman, whose humanity to me will long be
remembered.

You may be sure I have often pictured to myself the state of your
mind upon finding me dragged away without our seeing one another
at parting! But such are laws of our country! It has, however, given

56 SELECT DOglUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

me infinitely more pain and misery than the punishment itself. The
many years’ endearment, the fond affections of a father, and all the
flattering hopes of a reclaimed life, in case I had been fortunate
enough to have excaped on my late trial, crowded before me, and
made me anxious, indeed, to have remained with you and my dear
child, and to have continued an useful member of society — at least,
to have bid a short adieu to you and the public. With respect to the
prospect before me, sad and distressing as it may appear, all may
ultimately be for our good. With the best of hearts and best of
dispositions there is, God knows, an overbearing fate that counteracts
our best designs, and makes us act (that is pickpockets) in spite of
ourselves. But no more of that. It is now too late for me to reason.

(f) THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL — ^FOOD, HEALTH AND COMMUNI-
CATIONS

28. Failure of First Attempts at Cultivation. 1788.

(Phillip to Sydney, 28 September 1788. H,RA. I, 1, pp. 72-8.)

As soon as the rains permitted the getting the provisions on shore
from the two remaining store-ships, they were cleared, except of the
spirits, which are on board of one of them, and which will be landed
the end of this month. It was my intention to send the two store-
ships away together, and expected they would be ready to sail the first
week in October, and the Sirius was ordered to be ready to sail about
the same time to the northward, in order to procure live-stock, but
it was now found that very little of the English wheat had vegetated,
and a very considerable quantity of barley and many seeds
had rotted in the ground, having been heated in the passage, and
some much injured by the weevil. All the barley and wheat, like-
wise, which had been put on board the Supply at the Cape were
destroyed by the weevil. The ground was, therefore, necessarily
sown a second time with the seed, which I had saved for the next
year, in case the crops in the ground met with any accident. The
wheat sent to Norfolk Island had likewise failed, and there did not
remain seed to sow one acre. I could not be certain that the ships
which are expected would bring any quantity of grain, or, if put on
board them, that they would preserve it good by a proper attention
to stowage, to the want of which I impute our present loss.

The colony not being in a state to support any considerable
quantity of live stock, many being under the necessity at present of
frequently killing a part of what they have for want of food to
support them, I should be obliged to kill what the Sirius might
procure, and which could not be expected to exceed ten or fourteen
days provision for the settlement; and we now have not more than a
year’s bread in store, having been obliged to furnish the Sirius and

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT^ 57

Supply with provisions. On these considerations, but more immed-
iately from the fear of not having grain to put into the ground next
year, when we shall have a more considerable quantity ef ground to
sow, I have thought it necessary to order the Sirius to go to the Cape
of Good Hope in order to procure grain, and at the same time what
quantity of flour and provisions she can receive. . . .The detachment
is now inclosing ground for their gardens, and we have about six
acres of wheat, eight of barley, and six acres of other grain, all which,
as well as such garden seeds as were not spoiled, promise well ; and
though the soil is in general a light sandy soil, it is, I believe, as gmd
as what is commonly found near the sea-coast in other parts of the
world. The great inconvenience we find is from the rocks and the
labour of clearing away the woods which surround us, and which
are mostly gum-trees of a very large size, and which are only useful
as firewood, though I think that when we can cut them down in the
winter and give them time to season they may be madb useful in
building. . . .

The climate is equal to the finest in Europe, and we very seldom
have any fogs. All the plants and fruit-trees brought from the Brazil
and the Cape that did not die in the passage thrive exceeding well;
and we do not want vegetables, good in their kind, which are
natural to the country. . . .

I have now given up all hopes of recovering the two bulls and
four cows that were lost, and one sheep only remains of upwards
of seventy which ! had purchased at the Cape on my own account
and on Government’s account. It is the rank grass under the trees
which has destroyed them, for those who have only had one or two
sheep which have fed about their tents have preserved them.

Hogs and poultry thrive and increase fast. Black cattle will
thrive full as well, and as we shall be able in future to guard against
their straying, your Lordship will please to determine whether it
would not be necessary to order any ship that was coming to the
settlement with provisions to purchase at the Cape as many cows as
could be conveniently received on board, with a couple of young
bulls. But the ship for that purpose should be able to stow them
between decks; and I beg leave to observe that a forty or fifty
gun ship that brought out provisions and stores, leaving her guns
out, would answer the purpose better than any transport, and
at once stock this settlement. ...

29. Isolation and Rationing. 1789-90.

(W. Tench: Complete Account, loc. cit.)

For in October [1789] our weekly allowance of provisions,
which had hitherto been eight pounds of flour, five pounds of
salt pork, three pints of pease, six ounces of butter, was reduced

58 SELECT DOiJUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

to five pounds five ounces of flour, three pounds five ounces of
pork, and two pints of pease (p. 33).

Our impatience of news from Europe strongly marked the
commencement of the year. We had now [early in 1790] been
two years in the country, and thirty two months from England,
in which long period no supplies, except what had been procured
at the Gape of Good Hope by the Sirius, had reached us. From the
intelligence of our friends and connections we had been entirely
cu| off, no communication whatever having passed with our native
country since the 13th May, 1787, the day of our departure from
Portsmouth. Famine besides was approaching with gigantic strides,
and gloom and dejection overspread every countenance. Men
abandoned themselves to the most desponding reflections, and
adopted the most extravagant conjectures (p. 37).

• And onihe 27th of the same month [March, 1790], the following-
order was issued from head-quarters.

“Parole — Honour.

“Counter sign — Example.

“The expected supply of provisions not having arrived, makes it
necessary to reduce the present ration. And the commissary is
directed to issue, from the 1st of April, the undermentioned
allowance, to every person in the settlement without distinction.

“Four pounds of flour, two pounds and a half of salt pork, and
one pound and a half of rice, per week^’ (p. 39).*

The distress of the lower classes for clothes was almost equal to
their other wants. The stores had been long exhausted, and winter
was at hand. Nothing more ludicrous can be conceived than the
expedients of substituting, shifting, and patching, which ingenuity
devised, to eke out wretchedness, and preserve the remains of
decency. The superior dexterity of the women was particularly
conspicuous. Many a guard have I seen mount, in which the
number of soldiers without shoes, exceeded that which had yet
preserved remnants of leather.

Nor was another part of our domestic economy less whimsical.
If a lucky man, who had knocked down a dinner with his gun,
or caught a fish by angling from the rocks, invited a neighbour to
dine with him, the invitation always ran, “bring your own bread.’’
Even at the governor’s table, this custom was constantly observed.
Every man when he sat down pulled his bread out of his pocket,
and laid it by his plate.

The insufficiency of our ration soon diminished our execution
of labour. Both soldiers and convicts pleaded such loss of strength,
as to find themselves unable to perform their accustomed tasks.
The hours of public work were accordingly shortened; or rather.

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT^ 59

every man was ordered to do as much as his strength would permit;
and every other possible indulgence was granted (p. 42).

[Note: For further information see D. Collins: English Colonf in New South
]>Fa/5^,Voi; I, pp. 104-8.]

30. News from Home. 1790.

(W. Tench: Complete Account, pp. 45-50.)

June. At length the clouds of misfortune began to separate
and on the evening of the 3rd of June, the joyful cry of '‘the flag’s
up”, resounded in every direction. ^

I was sitting in my hut, musing on our fate, when a confused
clamour in the street drew my attention. I opened my door, and
saw several women with children in their arms running to and fro
with distracted looks, congratulating each other, and kissing
their infants with the most passionate and extravagant marks of
fondness. I needed no more; but instantly started out, tod ran to
a hill, where, by the assistance of a pocket-glass, my hopes were
realised. My next door neighbour, a brother officer, was with me;
but we could not speak; we wrung each other by the hand, with
eyes and hearts overflowing.

Finding that the governor intended to go immediately in his
boat down the harbour, I begged to be of his party.

As we proceeded, the object of our hopes soon appeared: —
a large ship, with English colours flying, working in, between the
heads which form the entrance of the harbour. The tumultuous
state of our minds represented her in danger; and we were in agony.
Soon after, the governor, having ascertained what she was, left us,
and stept into a fishing boat to return to Sydney, The weather was
wet and tempestuous ; but the body is delicate only when the soul
is at ease. We pushed through wind and rain, the anxiety of our
sensations every moment redoubling. At last we read the word
London on her stern. “Pull away, my lads! she is from Old England!
a few strokes more, and we shall be aboard ! hurrah for a belly-full,
and news from our friends!” — Such were our exhortations to the
boat’s crew.

A few minutes completed our wishes, and we found ourselves
on board the Lady Juliana transport, with two hundred and twenty-
five of our countrywomen, whom crime or misfortune had con-
demned to exile. We learned that they had been almost eleven
months on their passage, having left Plymouth, into which port
they had put in July, 1789. We continued to ask a thousand
questions on a breath. Stimulated by curiosity, they inquired in
turn; but the right of being first answered, we thought, lay on our
side. “Letters! letters!” was the cry. They were produced, and
torn open in trembling agitation. News burst upon us like meridian

60 SELECT DOgUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

splendor on a blind man. We were overwhelmed with it; public,
private, general, and particular. Nor was it until some days had
elapsed, that we were able to methodize it, or reduce it into form.
We now heard for the first time of our sovereign’s illness, and his
happy restoration to health. The French revolution of 1789, with
all the attendant circumstances of that wonderful and unexpected
event, succeeded to amaze us. Now, too, the disaster which had
befallen the Guardian, and the liberal and enlarged plan on which
she had been stored and fitted out by government for our use,
wm promulged. It served also, in some measure, to account why^
we had not sooner heard from England. For had not the Guardian
struck on an island of ice, she would probably have reached us
three months before, and in this case have prevented the loss of
the Sirius, although she had sailed from England three months
after the Lady Juliana.

'June, 1790. Good fortune continued to befriend us. Before the
end of the month, three more transports, having on board two
companies of the New South Wales corps, arrived to add to our
society. These ships also brought out a large body of convicts. . . .

31, Rationing in 1791.

(D. Collins: English Colony in New South Wales ^ Vol. I, p. 171.)

It being always desirable to go as near the established ration as
the state of the stores would allow, and the governor never wishing
to keep the labouring man one moment longer than was absolutely
necessary upon a reduced allowance of provisions, he directed
[July] two pounds of rice to be added to the weekly proportion of
that article; but, although by this addition eight pounds of grain
were issued, (viz. three pounds of flour and five of rice,) the ration
was far from being brought up to the standard established by the
Treasury for the colony; five pounds of bad worm-eaten rice
making a most inadequate substitute for the same quantity of
good flour. In the article of meat the labouring man suffered still
more; for in a given quantity of sixty pounds, which were issued
on one serving day to two messes, there were no less than forty
pounds of bone, and the remainder, which was intended to be
eaten, was almost too far advanced in putrefaction for even hunger
to get down. It must be observed that it came in the Snow from
Batavia.

[Note: For the food crisis in 1792 see D, Collins: English Colony in New South
Wales, Vol. I, pp. 209-12.]

32. The Marines go into Business. 1792.

(Grose to Phillip, 4 October 1792. H.R,A. I, 1, p. 381.)

The situation of the soldiers under my command, who at this

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS*

time have scarcely shoes to their feet, and who have no other
comforts than the reduced and unwholesome rations served out
from the stores, has induced me to assemble the captains of my
corps for the purpose of consulting what could be done for their
relief and accommodation. Amongst us we have raised a sufficient
sum to take up the Britannia, and as ail money matters are already
settled with the master, who is also an owner, I have now to request
you will interest yourself in our favour, that you will, by represent-
ing the necessities of my soldiers, protect this ship from interruption
as much as you can, and that you will assist us to escape the miseries
of that precarious existence we have hitherto been so constantly
exposed to.

33. The Consequences of Inadequate Supplies. 1792.

(Phillip to Dundas, 3 October 1792. H.RA, I, 1, pp. 372-4.)

The arrival of the above ships [Britannia and Calcutfa} put it
in my power to increase the ration, and which, though at present
little inferior to the full ration, is, from the nature of some articles,
and the deficiency of others, very far from being satisfactory; nor
can the present ration be continued many days longer if the
Kitty does not arrive. The expences attending the supplying the
colony with the provisions received from Calcutta by the Atlantic
will be seen by the accounts which accompany this letter, and I have
only to observe that the different articles are very inferior to those
of a similar nature which are furnished from Europe.

Eight casks of salt provisions which were sent from Calcutta on
speculation, though used as soon as landed, were very bad, but
the small quantity of provisions in store obliges me to order it to
be issued. It is, sir, also necessary to observe that the beef received
from the Britannia is bad in kind; it has been surveyed by two
officers, a lieutenant and a master of the Navy. Their report states,
after weighing and examining a considerable number of casks:
‘‘That the average loss on the hogsheads agreeable to the contents
marked on them is thirty-six pounds and one-third, and on the
tierces twenty pounds and one-third. And that the whole of the beef
appears to be lean, bony, and very coarse, and inferior in quality
to any we have ever seen issued in his Majesty’s service.”

In addition to the provisions received from Messrs. Lambert,
Ross, & Co., a merchant, the Hon. John Cochrane, sent eight
casks of the finest, and of the second sort of flour, and soojee, and
which he offered to warrant for a twelvemonth, but when landed
it was in such a state from being heated,^ and from the weevil, that
it was necessary to cause it to be immediately issued. The enclosed
extract from Mr. Cochrane’s letter contains his proposal for furnish-
ing this settlement with those articles. ...

62 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Of the present state of this settlement, I have the satisfaction of
assuring you that the soil and its produce more than answer the
expectations which I have formerly given. Our last year’s prop of
maize, notwithstanding the long drought, was 4,844-| bushels,
of which 2,649^ bushels have been issued as bread for the colony,
695 bushels were reserved for seed and other purposes, and not
less than 1 ,500 bushels were stolen from the grounds, notwithstanding
every possible precaution was taken to prevent it. From the time
the corn began to ripen to the time it was housed, the convicts
W&re pressed by hunger, and great quantities were stolen and con-
cealed in the woods; several convicts died from feeding on it in its
crude state, when carrying the grain to the public granary. But in
speaking of these people, it is but just to observe that I can recollect
very few crimes during the last three years but what have been
committed to procure the necessaries of life.

' One thousand acres of ground are in cultivation on the public
account, of which 800 are in maize, the rest in wheat and barley,
at Parramatta and a new settlement formed about three miles
to the westward of Parramatta, and to which I have given the name
of Toon-gab-be, a name by which the natives distinguish the spot.
The soil is good, and in the neighbourhood of this place there are
several thousand acres of exceeding good ground. The quantity
of ground in cultivation by the settlers is 416 acres, and they have
97 acres more ground cleared of timber. By the land in cultivation
some judgment may be formed as to the corn, which may next year
be carried into the store towards the support of the colony. And I
flatter myself that the time now approaches in which this country
will be able to supply its inhabitants with grain; but no dependance
must be placed on a crop while it is in the ground, consequently
regular supplies of flour, &c., from Europe will be necessary until
there is sufficient quantity in store to serve the colony for one year at
least. The grub, as in all new grounds, is very destructive. The
crop may fail from a dry season, or be lost from fire or other
accidents, and to which it may naturally be supposed the crops in
this country are more exposed than in Europe.

My letters by the Supply, Gorgon, and Pitt will have shewn that
I look to England for the necessary supplies, of which we still stand
in great need, and which I doubt not are now on their passage;
but the great length of time in which this colony has remained in
its present state takes away hope from many, and the consequences
must be obvious. It has, sir, been my fate to point out wants from
year to year; it has been a duty the severest I have ever experienced.
Did those wants only respect myself or a few individuals I should
be silent; but here are numbers who bear them badly; nor has the
colony suffered ^more from wanting what we have not received

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT^ 63

than from the supplies we have received not arriving in time. . . .

If people for superintendents of such descriptions as have been
pointed out can be found they will be very useful. Of those which
have already been received, one is become a- settler, and is doing
well; a second has been discharged as useless in every respect; and
a third, who can be well spared, will be discharged, as wishing to
become a settler.

[Note: For the behaviour of the early emancipists see D. Collins: English
Colony in New South Wales, Vol. I, pp. 178-9, 193, 243-4. See also Phillip to Gren-
ville, 5 November 1791. H.R.A. I, 1, pp. 270-2.]

(g) THE NEED FOR FREE SETTLERS

34. The Need for Free Settlers. 1788.

(Phillip to Sydney, 30 October 1788. H.R.A. I, 1, p. 95.)

Your Lordship will see by my former letters the littl^ progress
we have been able to make in cultivating the lands, and, I presume,
the necessity of a few proper persons being sent out to superintend
the convicts, as well as settlers, who have been used to cultivation;
for at present this settlement only affords one person that I can
employ in cultivating the lands on the public account. Most of the
officers have cultivated a little ground, but is merely for their own
conveniency, and none more than a single acre, except the Lieut-
enant-Governor, who has about three acres. I have sixteen at a small
farm on the public account.

It must, my Lord, be settlers, with the assistance of the convicts,
that will put this country in a situation for supporting its inhabitants ;
nothing but the uncertainty of the time in which my letters may
reach England, and the possibility of those last written being the
first received, would make me trouble your Lordship in this letter
with a repetition of what I have fully explained in my former
letters — that the people who are not convicts are necessary for the
stores, from which provisions or stores are delivering almost
hourly, and that we want for superintending the convicts such
as have been brought up in the line in which they are now
employed. . . ..

35. Assistance Available to Free Settlers. 1790.

(Phillip to Grenville, 17 June 1790. H.R.A. I, 1, pp. 180-3.)

If settlers are sent out many difficulties will be removed; they
may choose those situations to which, for the above reasons, I
cannot at this moment detach convicts; and I have had the honor
of observing in my former dispatches that settlers appear to be
absolutely necessary. If they bring with them people to clear and
cultivate the land, and provisions to support those they bring with

64 SELECT DO^CUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

them, they will want very little assistance from Government after
they arrive; but no soldier or other person in this settlement could
at present '"accept of the assistance of convicts in cultivating the
land which might be granted them on the conditions pointed out
in the instructions — ‘'of feeding and cloathing them.” I believe,
sir, that it will be little less than two years from the time of granting
the lands before those lands will support the cultivators, I may err,
but I give my opinion to the best of my judgment. . . .

A settler who has to depend on his own labour will get on very
sldwly, but as there are some places on which but little timber is
growing, such spots shall be selected for those non-commissioned
officers and privates who may be inclined to settle; and I shall
govern myself by the instructions I have received, unless otherwise
directed.

If the settlers first sent oui are, in addition to their knowledge
as farmers, possessed of some little property, will it not, sir, act
as a security for their industry? Men able to support themselves,
if intelligent and industrious, I think cannot fail; but if people come
out (and such, I fear, may offer) who are indolent, and having
nothing to lose want that spur to industry, they may become a
burthen to the settlement, for they cannot be left to starve. Could
an hundred of those who have been sent out to form this colony be
removed it would be greatly benefitted, since they are as great
burthen here as they would be to their parishes if in England.

As it may appear that we have not made that advance towards
supporting ourselves which may have been expected, I will, sir,
beg leave to observe that in addition to those untoward circum-
stances, which have thrown the settlement so far back, it never yet
has been possible to direct the labour of more than a small part of
the convicts to the principal object. A civil and military establish-
ment form a considerable part of our numbers, which is increased
by women and children, all of whom are undoubtedly necessary,
but are a deadweight on those who have to render the colony
independent for the necessaries of life. Stores, barracks, and houses
have required time, and we have still stores and barracks to build
in the stead of those temporary ones at first erected. Settlers will
secure themselves and their provisions in a short time, and everyone
they feed will then be employed in cultivation, . . .

As I thought the first settlers sent out might require more
encouragement than those who might come out hereafter, I
proposed in my last despatches giving them a certain number of
convicts for two years, and supporting them during that time at
the expense of the Crown. The number intended to receive that
indulgence may be limited to the first fifteen; but I think, sir, much
will depend on ensuring the success of the first settlers sent out.

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT^

and who I presume will be good farmers. The assistance proposed
for them will certainly put them at their ease, if they are industrious
men, and would not, I apprehend, be any great loss to ^he Grown.

In order to know in what time a man might be able to cultivate
a sufficient quantity of ground to support himself, I last November
ordered a hut to be built in a good situation, an acre of ground to
be cleared, and once turned up it was put into the possession of a
very industrious convict, who was told if he behaved well he should
have thirty acres. This man had said the time for which he had been
sentenced was expired, and wished to settle. He has been indiftt-
rious, has received some little assistance from time to time, and now
tells me that if one acre more is cleared for him he shall be able to
support himself after next January, which I much doubt, but think
he will do tolerably well after he has been supported for eighteen
months. Others may prove more intelligent, though they cannot
well be more industrious. •

[Note: For the settlements at Parramatta and Toongabbie see W. Tench:
Complete Account^ pp. 75-81.]

(h) THE ABORIGINES

36. Phillip Anxious to Win Confidence of Aborigines. 1788.

(Phillip to Sydney, 15 May 1788. H.RA, I, 1, loc. cit.)

With respect to the natives, it was my determination from my
first landing that nothing less than the most absolute necessity
should ever make me fire upon them, and tho’ persevering in this
resolution has at times been rather difficult, I have hitherto been
so fortunate that it never has been necessary. Mons. La Perouse,
while at Botany Bay, was not so fortunate. He was 'obliged to fire
on them, in consequence of which, v^ith the bad behaviour of some
of the transports’ boats and some convicts, the natives have lately
avoided us, but proper measures are taken to regain their
confidence.

The few hours I have to collect and put into method the observ-
ations I have made of these people will, I hope, excuse me to your
Lordship for sending only extracts from my journal, as they have
been set down when the little incidents occurred, and from which
a more just opinion of these people may be drawn than I should
perhaps be able to give.

When I first landed in Botany Bay the natives appeared on the
beach, and were easily persuaded to receive what was offered them,
and, tho’ they came armed, very readily returned the confidence I
placed in them, by going to them alone and unarmed, most of them
laying down their spears when desired ; and while the ships remained
in Botany Bay no dispute happened between our people and the

66 SELECT DpGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

natives. They were all naked, but seemed fond of ornaments, putting
the beads of red baize that were given them around their heads or
necks. Their arms and canoes being described in ''Captain Cook’s
Voyage”, I do not trouble your Lordship with any description of
them.

When I first went in the boats to Port Jackson the natives
appeared armed near the place at which we landed, and were very
vociferous, but, like the others, easily persuaded to accept what was
offered them, and I persuaded one man, who appeared to be the
chief, or master, of the family, to go with me to that part of the
beach where the people were boiling their meat. When he came
near the marines, who were drawn up near the place, and saw that
by proceeding he should be separated from his companions, who
remained with several officers at some distance, he stopped, and
with great firmness seemed by words and acting to threaten if
they offered to take any advantage of his situation. He then went
on with me to examine what was boiling in the pot, and exprest
his admiration in a manner that made me believe he intended to
profit from what he saw, and which I made him understand he
might very easily by the help of some oyster-shells. I believe they
know no other way of dressing their food but by broiling, and they
are seldom seen without a fire, or a piece of wood on fire, which they
carry with them from place to place, and in their canoes, so that I
apprehend they find some difficulty in procuring fire by any other
means with which they are acquainted. The boats, in passing near
a point of land in the harbour, were seen by a number of men,
and twenty of them waded into the water unarmed, received what
was offered to them, and examined the boats with a curiosity that
gave me a much higher opinion of them than I had formed from the
behaviour of those seen in Captain Cook’s voyage, and their
confidence and manly behaviour made me give the name of Manly
Cove to this place (pp. 24-5).

It is not possible to determine with any accuracy the number of
natives, but I think that in Botany Bay, Port Jackson, Broken Bay,
and the intermediate coast they cannot be less than one thousand
five hundred (p. 29).

37. Clashes Between Whites and Aborigines. 1788.

(D. Collins: English Colony in New South Wales^ Vol. I, loc. cit.)

It was natural to suppose that the curiosity of these people would
be attracted by observing, that, instead of quitting, we were occupied
in works that indicated an intention of remaining in their country;
but during the first six weeks we received only one visit, two men
strolling into the camp one evening, and remaining in it for about
half an hour. They appeared to admire whatever they saw, and

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

after receiving each a hatchet (of the use of which the eldest
instantly and curiously shewed his knowledge, by turning up his
foot, and sharpening a piece of wood on the sole with the hatchet)
took their leave, apparently well pleased with their reception.
The fishing boats also frequently reported their having been visited
by many of these people when hauling the seine; at which labour
they often assisted with cheerfulness and in return were generally
rewarded with part of the fish taken.

Every precaution was used to guard against a breach of this
friendly and desirable intercourse, by strictly prohibiting every
person from depriving them of their spears, fizgigs, gum, or other
articles, which we soon perceived they were accustomed to leave
under the rocks, or loose and scattered about upon the beaches.

We had however great reason to believe that these precautions
were at first rendered fruitless by the ill conduct of a boat’s crew
belonging to one of the transports, who, we were told afterwards,
attempted to land in one of the coves at the lower part of the
harbour, but were prevented, and driven off with stones by the
natives. A party of them, consisting of sixteen or eighteen persons,
some time after landed on the island, where the people of the
Sirius were preparing a garden, and with much artifice, watching
their opportunity, carried off a shovel, a spade, and a pick-axe. On
their being fired at and hit on the legs by one of the people with
small shot, the pick-axe was dropped, but they carried off the other
tools.

To such circumstances as these must be attributed the termination
of that good understanding which had hitherto subsisted between
us and them, and which Governor Phillip laboured to improve
whenever he had an opportunity. But it might have been forseen
that this would unavoidably happen: the convicts were everywhere
straggling about, collecting animals and gum to sell to the people
of the transpoi'ts, who at the same time were procuring spears,
shields, fishing-lines, and other articles from the natives to carry
to Europe, the loss of which must have been attended with many
inconveniences , to the owners, as it was soon evident that they were
the only means whereby they obtained or could procure their
daily subsistence (pp. 16-17).

Farther and still more unpleasant consequences of the ill-treat-
ment which the natives received from our people were felt during
this month [May]. On the evening of the 21st a convict belonging
to the farm on the east side was brought to the hospital, very
dangerously wounded with a barbed spear, which entered about
the depth of three inches into his back, between the shoulders.
The account he gave of the transaction was, that having strayed
to a cove beyond the farm with another man, (who did not return

68 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

with him,) he was suddenly wounded with a spear, not having
seen any natives until he received the wound. His companion ran
away when the natives came up, who stripped him of all his clothes
but his trowsers, which they did not take, and then left ‘him to
crawl to the camp. A day or two afterwards the clothes of the man
that was missing were brought in, torn and bloody, and pierced
with spears; so that there was every reason to suppose that the
poor wretch had fallen a sacrifice to his own folly and the barbarity
of the natives.

-^On the 30th an officer, who had been collecting rushes in a cove
up the harbour, found and brought to the hospital the bodies of
two convicts who had been employed for some time in cutting
rushes there, pierced through in many places with spears, and the
head of one beaten to a jelly. As it was improbable that these
murders should be committed without provocation, inquiry was
made, and it appeared that these unfortunate men had, a few days
previous to their being found, taken away and detained a canoe
belonging to the natives, for which act of violence and injustice
they paid with their lives.

Notwithstanding these circumstances, a party of natives in their
canoes went alongside the Sirius, and some submitted themselves
to the operation of shaving : after which they landed on the western
point of the cove, where they examined everything they saw with
the greatest attention, and went away peaceably, and apparently
not under any apprehension of resentment on our parts for the
murders above mentioned (pp. 30-1).

38. Tench’s Sympathy with the Aborigines. 1788.

(W. Tench: Complete Account^ loc. cit.)

Our intercourse with them was neither frequent or cordial.
They seemed studiously to avoid us, either from fear, jealousy or
hatred. When they met with unarmed stragglers, they sometimes
killed, and sometimes wounded them. I confess that, in common with
many others, I was inclined to attribute this conduct, to a spirit
of malignant levity. But a farther acquaintance with them, founded
on several instances of their humanity and generosity which shall
be noticed in their proper places, has entirely reversed my opinion;
and led me to conclude, that the unprovoked outrages committed
upon them, by unprincipled individuals among us, caused the
evils we had experienced. To prevent them from being plundered
of their fishing-tackle and weapons of war, a proclamation was
issued, forbidding their sale among us ; but it was not attended with
the good effect which was hoped for from it. . . .

A survey of the harbour of Port Jackson was now undertaken,
in order to compute the number of canoes, and inhabitants, which

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS'

it might contain: sixty-seven canoes, and 147 people were counted.
No estimate, however, of even tolerable accuracy, can be drawn
from sa imperfect a datum; though it was perhaps the Best in our
power to acquire (pp. 4-5).

An extraordinary calamity was now observed among the natives.
Repeated accounts brought by our boats of finding bodies of the
Indians in all the coves and inlets of the harbour, caused the
gentlemen of our hospital to procure some of them for the purposes
of examination and anatomy. On inspection it appeared that
the parties had died a natural death: pustules, similar to those
occasioned by the small pox, were thickly spread on the bodies;
but how a disease, to which our former observations had led us to
suppose them strangers, could at once have introduced itself, and
have spread so widely, seemed inexplicable (p. 18).

(i) RETROSPECT

39. Fitt Satisfied witli the New Colony. 1791.

{Pari Hist, Vol. XXVIII, cols 1223-4.)

Mr. Pitt said, he had no objection to the motion; on the contrary,
he was glad it had been made, because, if reports prevailed that
the settlement at Botany-Bay was disastrous, and contrary to the
purpose intended, it was most desirable that the public should be
relieved from the prejudices which such opinions necessarily created,
by having the real situation of the colony explained, and stated
upon grounds of authority. Government, he said, were convinced
that the reverse was the fact, and that there was no reason whatever
for any such apprehension as had been hinted at. , . . If Botany-Bay
was not capable of receiving them, he would freely acknowledge,
that ministers were highly reprehensible for sending out so many
as were now on the point of going there; but government had no
reason to suppose it to be the case. In point of expense, no cheaper
mode of disposing of the convicts, he was satisfied, could be found.
The chief expense of the establishment of the colony was already
passed and paid. Why, then, were they, unless strong reasons
indeed operated to enforce the measure, to begin de novo, and make
a new colony? And where it could be made to more advantage
he really was a stranger. That it was a necessary and essential
point of police to send some of the most incorrigible criminals out of
the kingdom, no man could entertain a doubt, since it must be
universally admitted, that it was the worst policy of a state to keep
offenders of that description at home to corrupt others, and contam-
inate the less guilty, by communicating their own dangerous
depravity. ... In respect to Botany-Bay, as transportation appeared
to him to be a very fit punishment for incorrigible offenders, he

70 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

saw no reason to hold out a prospect of luxury to exiles ; nor did
he wish that the effect of their conviction should be so described.
On the other hand, he should be extremely sorry, if, by any accident,
the severity of their sentence were aggravated, or that they should
not meet with that degree of accommodation which the humane
principles of British laws intended, and which was proper for
persons in their situation. As far as government had yet heard, he
was convinced, that the condition of the felons who were sent to
Botany-Bay, was far preferable to that which befel them under the
ifermer mode of transportation, previous to our loss of the colonies.
Mr. Pitt added some other observations, all tending to do away
the prejudices under which, he said, he saw the present subject
had been taken up, and to prove the impolicy of delaying the
passage of the convicts already shipped for Botany-Bay. The motion
was agreed to.

40. Phillip’s Departure — State of the Colony. 1792.

(D. Collins: English Colony in New South Wales^ Vol. I, pp. 248-52.)

. , . Governor Phillip quitted the charge with which he had been
instructed by his Sovereign, and in the execution of which he had
manifested a zeal and perseverance that alone could have enabled
him to surmount the natural and artificial obstacles which the
country and its inhabitants had thrown in his way.

The colony had now been established within a few weeks of
five years; and a review of what had been done in cultivation
under His Excellency’s direction in that time cannot more properly
be introduced than at the close of his government. . . . An accurate
survey of the whole ground in cultivation, both on account of the
crown, and in the possession of individuals, had been taken by the
surveyor-general, and transmitted to England by that ship; and
from the return which he then made, the following particulars
were extracted:

Ground in Cultivation, the 16th October, 1792. Acres

In wheat . . . . . . . . . . . . . , 208|

In barley . . . . . . , . . . . . . . 24J

In maize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1861-

Garden ground .. .. .. .. .. 12 IJ

Ground cleared of timber . . . . . . . , . . 1624

Total number of acres . . . . . . . . . . 1 703

[Note: Statistics given in the original are more detailed; only total areas
are quoted here.]

At this time the quantity of land which had passed to settlers in

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

the territory under the seal of the colony amounted to three thousand
four hundred and seventy acres; of which quantity four hundred
and seventeen acres and a half were in cultivation, and tfie timber
cleared from one hundred more, ready for sowing. ... A striking
proof of what some settlers had themselves declared on its being
hinted to them that they had not always been so diligent when
labouring for the whole — ‘‘We are now working for ourselves”.
One material good was, however, to be expected from a tract of
land of that extent being cultivated by individuals, if at any tiiw
an accident should happen to the crop on the public ground, they
might be a resource, though an inconsiderable one. Fortunately,
no misfortune of that nature had ever fallen upon the colony; but
it had been, at the beginning of this month [December], very near
experiencing a calamity that would have blasted all the prospects
of the next season, and in one moment have rendered ineffectual
the labour of many hands and of many months. Two days after
the wheat had been reaped, and got off the ground at Toongabbe,
the whole of the stubble was burnt. The day on which this happened
had been unusually hot, and the country was every where on fire.
Had this befallen them while the wheat was upon the ground,
nothing could have saved the whole from being destroyed. From
this circumstance, however, one good resulted; precautions against
a similar accident were immediately taken, by clearing the timber
for a certain distance round the cultivated land.

The stock belonging to the public was kept at Parramatta.
It consisted of three bulls, two bull-calves, fifteen cows, three calves,
five stallions, six mares, one hundred and five sheep, and forty-
three hogs.

Of the sheep the Governor gave to each of the married settlers
one ewe for the purpose of breeding; and to others he gave such
female goats as could be spared. . . .

His excellency, at embarking on board the Atlantic, was received
near the wharf on the east-side (where his boat was lying,) by
Major Grose, at the head of the New South Wales corps, who paid
him, as he passed, the honours due to his rank and situation in
the colony. . . .

With the governor there embarked, voluntarily and cheerfully,
two natives of this country, Bennillong, and Yem-mer-ra-wan-nie,
two men who were much attached to his person ; and who withstood
at the moment of their departure the united distress of their wives,
and the dismal lamentations of their friends, to accompany him
to England, a place that they well knew was at a great distance
from them.

One or two convicts also who had conducted themselves to his

72 SELECT IjOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

satisfaction, and whose periods of transportation were expired,
were permitted by the governor to return to England in the same
ship with himself.

The Atlantic had likewise on board various specimens of the
natural productions of the country, timber, plants, animals, and
birds. Among the animals were four fine kangooroos, and several
native dogs. ... A safe and speedy passage to her was the general
wish, not only on account of the governor, whose health and
constitution (already much impaired) might suffer greatly by the
fatigues of a protracted voyage; but that the information of which
his excellency was in possession respecting these settlements, from
their establishments to the moment of his quitting them, might as
quickly as possible be laid before the administration.

41, An Absurd Scheme, 1792.

(F. G. Gardenstone: Miscellanies^ pp. 58-9.)

On the new settlement at Botany Bay.

... we must infer that the Botany Bay scheme is the most absurd,
prodigal, and impracticable vision that ever intoxicated the mind
of man. A poor fellow steals a watch, or a horse worth five or ten
pounds. The loss is paltry, but mark the consequences. His trial,
in Scotland at least, costs the public, between expence and personal
trouble to individuals, perhaps, four times that sum; and then his
transportation, the devil knows where, and the devil knows why,
perpetuates a burden upon his country to the amount of ten times
the loss incurred by the robbery and trial put together.

42. Doubts about the Value of New South Wales. 1798.

(Select Committee on Finance, 26 June 1798, quoted in
P. Colquhoun: A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis^ loc. cit.)

Convicts Transported

Men and Women

Children

Total

1787

778

795

1789

1251

22 .

1273

1790

2029

2038

1791

408

419

1792

412

418

1794

1795

133

136

1796

279

292

1797

393

403

5765

5858

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

Disbursed for 5858 Convicts Including 93 Children,
Transported to New South Wales

•

In 1786

28,346

Brought over

■ 337,449

„ 1787

29,242

lOi

In 1792

104,588

„ 1788

18,008

„ 1793

69,961

„ 1789

88,057

„ 1794

79,381

„ 1790

44,774

„ 1795

75,280

„ 1791

129,019

lOf

„ 1796

83,854

—

» 1797

120,372

Carried over

337,449

1-i

Carried over

870,889

To which add

the Total Naval Expences

166,341

Total Expences in 12 Years ^£“1, 037, 230 6 7}

(pp^472.4).

The numbers of the Convicts do not appear to have kept pace
with the increase of the expence . . . that after a trial of twelve
years, it seems not too early to enquire whether the peculiar
advantages likely to arise from this plan are such as may be
considered as compensating for its probable expence. The security
held out by the difficulty of return on the part of the convicts is
the only advantage that strikes the eye: but the nature of this
advantage, the amount of it, and the certainty of it, seem not alto-
gether undeserving of inquiry ; and whether a security of the same
sort more at command, and more to be depended on, might not
be purchased on less exceptionable terms. It may be also worthy of
inquiry whether the advantages looked for, from this establishment
may not be dependent on its weakness? and whether as it grows
less disadvantageous in point of finance, it will not be apt to grow
less advantageous in the character of an instrument of Police?
The more thriving the Settlement the more frequented: The more
frequented the less difficulty of return — The more thriving too the
less terrible. To persons in some circumstances: — to persons who
otherwise would have been disposed to emigrate, it may loose its
terrors altogether, especially if by money or other means the
servitude be avoidable. . . . The distance is unexampled, and all
danger as well as all expence swells in proportion to the distance:
these topics appear to merit consideration.

Another circumstance is, that the labour of the whole number
of persons sent to these colonies, whether as Convicts or Settlers,
is entirely lost to the Country^ nor can any return, to compensate such
a loss, be expected till that very distant day, when the improved
state of the Colony may, by possibility, begin to repay a part of the
advance, by the benefits of its trade (pp. 475-8).

74 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

E. Norfolk Island

43, King^Sent to Found a Settlement at Norfolk Island. 1788.

(J. Stockdale: Voyage of Governor Phillip:, pp. 60-1.)

On the 14th of February, a party was sent out in the Supply to
settle on a small island to the north-west of New Zealand . . . named
Norfolk Island . . . there was sent with Lieut. King only a small
detachment, consisting of one subaltern officer, and six marines, a
v^ry promising young man who was a midshipman, a surgeon, two
men who understood the cultivation and dressing of flax, with
nine ixien and six women convicts. . . .

(Instruction for Philip Gidley King, Esq., Superintendent and
Commandant of the Settlement of Norfolk Island).

After having taken the necessary measures for securing yourself
and people, and for the preservation of the stores and provisions,
you are immediately to proceed to the cultivation of the Flax Plant,
which you will find growing spontaneously on the island; as like-
wise to the cultivation of cotton, corn, and other plants, with the
seeds of which you are furnished, and which you are to regard as
public stock, and of the increase of which you are to send me an
account, that I may know what quantity may be drawn from the
island for public use.

[Note: For the rules of the settlement at Norfolk Island see the extract from
Lieut P. G. King’s Journal in J. Himter: Historical Journal, pp. 307-8.]

F. Van Diemen’s Land

44. Reasons for Settling Van Diemen’s Land. 1803.

(King to Nepean, 9 May 1803. H.R.A. I, 4, p. 248.)

In my Letter of the 23d of Novr. last I. informed you that I had
sent a Colonial Vessel to Basses Straits, the particulars of which
I had communicated to the Secretary of State — It was reported
to me soon after the French Ships sailed that a principal object of
their voyage was to fix on a Place at Van Diemans Land for a
Settlement, and that the French Officers who had talked of it
had pointed out a particular place what the French call Baie du
Nord in Storm Bay Passage; with this Information I considered it
my duty to establish His Majesty’s Right to that Island being within
the limits of this Territory, I therefore despatched a Colonial
Vessel under the direction of the Masters Mate of the Buffalo with
the enclosed Instructions, who conducted that Service very much to
my Satisfaction and made an accurate Survey of King’s Island and
Port Phillip at the West entrance of Basses Straits.

Making the French Commodore acquainted with my intentions of

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

Settling Van Dieman’s Land, was all I sought by this Voyage,
Mr. Robbins overtook them on the Day the Naturaliste parted
Company with the Geographe to return to France, I have«the honor
to enclose the French Commodore’s Answer to- my Letter with my
Remarks thereon.

Under all these Circumstances I judged it expedient to form a
Settlement at Risdon Cove in the River Derwent, the situation of
which their Lordships will observe in Captain Flinder’s Chart of
Storm Bay Passage in Van Dieman’s Land; This Measure I should
have taken sooner if I had any proper Person to send on that Servicf;
On the Glattons arrival Lieut. Bowen of that Ship offered his
Services, and being recommended by Captain Colnett who gave his
Consent, I took it upon me to appoint Mr. Bowen in conjunction
with the Commander of the Porpoise to fix on a suitable Place,
and command the intended Settlement until I may receive Instruc-
tions on that Subject, As no Medical assistance could be spared from*
the Colony, and the Surgeon of the Glatton having Captain
Colnetts consent and recommendation I appointed him to the
Medical Duty of the intended Settlement where his assistance to
Lieut. Bowen will be very useful. My reasons for making this
Settlement are: — the necessity there appears of preventing the
French gaining a footing on the East side of these Islands; To divide
the Convicts : — ^To secure another place for procuring Timber, with
any other natural production that may be discovered and found
useful; The advantage that may be expected by raising Grain; and
to promote the Seal Fishery : For these reasons and Utility of a Naval
Officx^r’s conducting a Settlement of that kind I was induced to
accept Lieut. Bowen’s offer, and Capt. Colnett’s recommendation
which I hope will meet their Lordships Approbation. It is my inten-
tion to dispatch the Porpoise and Lady Nelson on this Service as
soon as possible after the Glatton’s departure.

45. Tlie Collins Expedition Transfers to the Derwent. 1804.

(Collins to King, 28 February 1804. H.RA. Ill, 1, pp. 217-8.)

By my Letter No. 5 which I expect you will receive by the
Schooner Edwin, (a Duplicate of which accompanies this), your
Excellency will be informed of my Intention of Proceeding to the
Settlement established under your Authority at the Derwent.^

As your Excellency requests that I will be unreserved in my
communications respecting the Settlement with the direction of
which I have been entrusted, I shall proceed to state the motive
that induced me to give the preference to the Derwent. The
advantages which I must derive from establishing myself in a Place
already settled had certainly great weight with me, as I mention’d
in the Letter which I had the honor of addressing to you by the

76 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Calcutta; but a still stronger consideration than this determined
my Election of that Place. Between the departure of Captain
Woodriff ^nd the Receipt of your last Dispatches, I discovered an
improper spirit among some of my Military, who expressed a
dissatisfaction at a daily Drill, which I had found it necessary to
order. Having received sufficient Evidence of their discontent, and
of a design to wait upon me in a Body to state What they deemed a
grievance, I resolved instantly to check it before it could proceed to
any such unwarrantable length, and caused two Privates (who I
h€rd reason to believe were the most dissatisfied) to be confined,
and brought them the following Day to a Court-Martial by which
they were sentenced to receive each Nine hundred lashes, of which
Punishment I attended the Execution myself, when one received
Seven Hundred and the other five hundred lashes. The Public
Order which I gave out upon this Occasion will be found in the
continuafion of my General Orders, which I send herewith.

This Punishment appeared to be attended with the effect which
I desired. Nevertheless, on duly weighing the whole Circumstance,
together with the weakness of my Party in point of Numbers, I
thought I could not do better than repair to the Derwent, where,
by being joined by a Detachment of the New South Wales Corps,
a Spirit of Emulation would be excited and a check given to that
discontent which had manifested itself among my own People.

By this addition of strength I should, moreover, never have much
apprehension from a large Sick-List, which indeed was once so
great after the departure of the Calcutta Marines that I was obliged
to reduce the number of my Centinels by day, mounting a Picquet
in the Evening. I also reflected that having but three Subalterns
if I should lose an Officer, or one of them be ill, I could not hold a
Court-Martial upon Offenders, an inconvenience the occurring
of which would be in some measure obviated by the Services of
Lieu’t. Moore.

These, Sir, were my Motives ; it was my anxious wish to have had
the Honour of establishing a permanent Settlement, with no other
aid than what I brought with me from England; but events which
I could not foresee determined me at the Time to Proceed to Risdon
Cove. I found Port Phillip wholly unfit for the Settlement, and the
idea of fixing one at Port Dalrymple I abandoned, not only from
the motives which I have stated, but because I conceived the local
Situation of the River Derwent more adapted for commercial
Purposes. Its position at the Southern extremity of Van Dieman’s
Land gives it an advantage over every Harbour yet discovered in
the Straits, and I entertain a Hope that when it is generally known
that an Establishment is formed, so directly presenting itself as a
Port of Shelter to Ships from Europe, America, or India, either for

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS 77

Whaling or other speculation, it will be greatly resorted to.

These advantages, no doubt, occurred to your Excellency, and
influenced you to take Possession of that part of the ^Country.
I, therefore, thought that I ran no risk (as I had been obliged to
quit the place to which I was destined) of incurring any Blame in
fixing on a Spot which had before been thought by your Excellency
an eligible Situation for a Settlement.

My General Letter No. 6 will inform your Excellency of my
Proceedings since my arrival in the Derwent; and as the Purpoi^
of this Letter will be stated in my Dispatches to the Secretary of
State, it will afford me matter of great Satisfaction if the Propriety
and expediency of the Measures which I have adopted shall receive
your Excellency’s Confirmation.

[Note: For the early history of the settlements in Tasmania see H.R.A. Ill,
1, pp. 127-778. The history of the settlements up to December 1827 is docu-
mented in Vols 2-6 of the same series. See also J. West: History of Tasmania (2
vols, Launceston, 1852). The history of Tasmania as a penal colony is docu-
mented in Section 3 of this volume, and its constitutional history in Section 7.]

G. Moreton Bay

46. Convicts to be Sent to Moreton Bay. 1824.

(Brisbane to Bathurst, 3 February 1824. H.R.A, I, 11, p. 215.)

In compliance with the instructions conveyed to me in your letter
of the 9th September, 1822, the Surveyor General was despatched
on the 22nd of last October in His Majesty’s Gutter Mermaid to
examine Port Bowen, Port Curtis and Moreton Bay, with the
Country immediately adjoining; and his report upon the Capacity
of the two latter for the purposes of Convict Settlements I have now
the pleasure to enclose, as it commences a new era in the History
of the Continent of New Holland by the discovery of a large and
impori ant river.

The first part of your Lordship’s Commands having been thus
canied into its fullest effect by the zeal and Intelligence of Mr.
Oxley, the Second will be pi'oceeded upon the moment that the rainy
Season concludes, by the Establishment in Moreton Bay of a few,
not exceeding fifty Souls for the purpose of providing accommod-
ation for themselves, and for the reception of any number of
Convicts it may be deemed expedient to send hereafter.

47. Previous Instructions Cancelled. 1824.

(Bathurst to Brisbane, 22 July 1824. H.R.A. I, 11, p, 321.)

In consequence of the discovery made by Mr. Oxley of a New
River opening between the first Mangroon Islands and the main

SELECT fiOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Land in Mofeton Bay, that part of the Country, by reason of its
fitness for general Colonization, no longer appears to His Majesty
to be cafculated to fulfil the objects in view, when I directed your
attention to the formation of a Convict Establishment at that
Station for the worst Class of Offenders. . . .

48. Moreton Bay to Receive Bushrangers. 1825.

(Brisbane to Horton, 24 March 1825. H^.A. I, 11, p. 553.)

^ Finding they [i.e. bushrangers] did not avail themselves of my
ikte Proclamation, which expired on the 20th inst., I have ordered
an increased number of constables for the present, with Soldiers
and aborigines to accompany them, with a reward o^ £5 for every
Bushranger; these, as they are brought in, shall be sent on board
the Hulk, and removed as necessary to Moreton Bay, which I
should recommend as the Second place of punishment, viz. Port
Macquarie for first grave offences; Moreton Bay, for runaways from
the former, and Norfolk Island, as the ne plus ultra of Convict
degradation.

49. Brisbane Rejects Bathurst’s Instructions. 1825.

(Brisbane to Bathurst, 21 May 1825. H,R.A. I, 11, p. 604.)

I have had the honor to receive a Dispatch from your Lordship,
No. 25, rather intimating it as Your Lordship’s opinion that More-
ton Bay should be open to Colonization.

As Port Macquarie has become almost useless as a penal Settle-
ment from the many facilities afforded to the escape of Prisoners
by the extension of Settlers along Hunter’s River, and as Norfolk
Island would not be sufficient to contain the persons, .whom it is
found necessary to remove for minor offences to remote parts of
the Colony, I have thought it would not be assuming an unsound
discretion, if I should take measures for immediately preparing
Moreton Bay for the reception of Prisoners; and I have adopted
this step with less diffidence, as the Establishment of Penal Depots
is the best means of paving the way for the introduction of free
population as the example of Port Macquarie abundantly testifies.
... For minor offenders ... I have thought Morton Bay would be
the fittest Depot on account of its distance and almost impossibility
of escape, Its means of immediately affording employment and
subsistence for the Prisoners, who may be sent there, and the facil-
ities that a penal settlement in the first instance will afford to the
free Settlers, when it may be deemed expedient to throw open that
part of the Colony. . . . '

50. Moreton Bay Approved as Place For Second ORenders.

(Bathurst to Darling, 1 March 1826. H.R,A. I, 12, p. 194.)

. . . Moreton Bay, the Settlement which is already employed as a

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

second place of Punishment on the Eastern Coast, might then
become that to which Prisoners convicted, for the first time, of
offences .in the Settlement and Convicts occasionally fro’m hence
may be consigned; and Port Macquarie, whifch is now devoted
to that purpose, may then be thrown open to general Colonization
as suggested by Sir Thomas Brisbane in his Dispatch of the 21st
May, 1825.

[Note: Moreton Bay was abandoned as a penal settlement in May 1842.
The occupation of the district by the squatters was quite rapid after 1840.
this see S. H. Roberts: The Squatting Age in Australia, Ch. 6, section VI.]

H. Swan River

[Note : For the reasons for and the history of the settlement at King George’s
Sound see H.R.A. Ill, 6, pp. 453-548.]

[1828.

51. The Advantages of Swan River as a Site For Settlement.

(Stirling to Hay, 30 July 1828. H,R.A. Ill, 6, p. 585.)

Without entering upon the consideration of its prospective
advantages or future Importance, I beg leave to state briefly That
the Climate is equally healthy as that of the Cape and New South
Wales; that it permits Europeans to labor throughout the day and
in every Season of the Year; That, according to the Testimony of
an experienced Person who accompanied me, the Soil is admirably
calculated for every Species of Cultivation;

That the Territory is abundantly supplied with fresh Water;
And finally that, in the Neighbourhood of Swan River, there
is Safe Anchorage, which may easily be converted into one of the
finest Harbours in the World.

The* above mentioned recommendations point it out as a spot
so eligible for Settlement, that it cannot long remain unoccupied.
It is not inferior in any natural essential quality to the Plain of
Lombardy, and, as by its position it commands facilities for carrying
on Trade with India and the Malay Archipelago, as well as with
China, and as it is moreover favourably circumstanced for the
Equipment of Cruizers for the annoyance of Trade in those Seas,
Some foreign Power may see the Advantage of taking possession,
should his Majesty’s Government leave it unappropriated.

[1828.

52. Instructions to Take Possession of Western Australia.

(Barrow to Under Secretary Twiss, 7 November 1828. H,RA.
Ill, 6, pp. 587-8.)

In reference to Secretary Sir George Murray’s Letter [see note
below] of the 5th Instant signifying to my Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty His Majesty’s Pleasure that immediate Orders be given to

80 SELECT KOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

the Officer commanding His Majesty’s Naval Forces at the Cape of
Good Hope to dispatch one of the Ships of War under his Command,
without *^the smallest loss of time, to the Western Coast of New
Holland, with directions to take formal possession of the Western
side of New Holland in His Majesty’s Name; I am commanded by
their Lordships to acquaint you, for the information of Sir George
Murray, that the Senior Officer at the Cape of Good Hope has been
directed to send His Majesty’s Ship Tweed to execute this Service.

f; [Note : The letter of Sir George Murray to the Admiralty Commissioners
is not available. See H.R.A. III, 6, p. 587.]

53. The Peel Plan, 1828.

(Memorial from Mr Thomas Peel, Sir Francis Vincent and others
to Secretary Sir George Murray, 14 November 1828. H.R.A. Ill,
6, pp. 588-90.)

To tfie Right Honourable Sir George Murray, His Majesty’s
Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies.

The undersigned respectfully beg leave to- call the Attention of
the Colonial Secretary to a Proposition, which has for its Object
the Furtherance of the splendid Design of His Majesty’s Govern-
ment, in colonizing that Part of Australia called Swan River, being
in latitude 34° S., longitude 11° E., lately visited by Captain
Stirling in His Majesty’s Ship the Rainbow.

The Capabilities of this most important Possession to the British
Interest are too numerous for the undersigned here to set forth,
more especially as it is presumed the Vigilance of His Majesty’s
Government has put them in full Possession of the many great and
peculiar Advantages this Part of that extensive Territory possesses
being in the Centre of the Eastern Trade, and forming a suitable
Depot for Vessels navigating those Seas.

The undersigned beg leave to observe, that, in colonizing, there
are more Difficulties to encounter than an abstract Description
can set forth.

They trust their Proposals will be looked at as coming from British
Subjects, who are willing to render their Fortunes and Lives in
furthering His Majesty’s Views, in making the Swan River a Colony,
where the willing industry of His Majesty’s Subjects may find, that
Honesty and Obedience will secure the fostering Arm of Government
to every Glass of His Majesty’s People.

The undersigned propose to provide Shipping for the Purposes of
taking out 10,000 of His Majesty’s Subjects from England, Ireland
and Scotland, to the Settlement at Swan River, and to find them in
Provisions, and every other Necessary usually allowed to Emigrants.

That they will bring to the Settlement 1,000 Head of Bulls, Cows,
Bullocks and Calves for the Purpose of further Improvement, and

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

have Three small Vessels running from Sydney to the Settlement,
as Occasion may require.

They respectfully beg leave to call the attention of His ^.lajesty’s
Government to the present proposal, which they flatter themselves
will stand unequalled, as they will have to take Ships to a Place
where there is no Back Freight or Prospect of a Cargo.

It necessarily follows that the Expense of the Conveyance of
Families from England to Swan River will be much higher than
it is to Hobart Town or Sydney.

These Considerations bring the undersigned to make a nomin^
Estimation that each Person will cost them £Z0.

They promise to complete, within the Period of Four Years,
the taking over of the 10,000 Men, Women and Children from
England, Ireland and Scotland.

They do not ask His Majesty’s Government either to give or
make a Loan for the Purpose of completing their Undertaking;
but as a Payment for the Outlay, they are willing to take Grants of
Land there, at a Valuation of Is. 6d. per Acre, to the full Quantity,
as a Payment in the Value for their Trouble estimating, as before
stated, 10,000 Souls at ;^30 per Head, to be received by a free
Grant, as before stated.

They respectfully submit that, should His Majesty’s Government
be pleased to approve of this Arrangement, the undersigned
shall, at their own Expense, provide proper Surveyors for the
Purpose of locating to every Male not less than 200 Acres of Land
from the Quantity they will have to receive, and that the respective
Governors of the Settlement will sign the Grant as a Gift from the
Crown.

The Wish of the undersigned in this Stage of the Arrangement
is that they may have a Right to hold out the Promise of a Grant,
by the Government Authority, to such Persons as they may select
for the Purpose of emigrating to the Settlement.

It may not be unnecessary for the undersigned to give a partial
Statement of their Objects in wishing to have large Tracts of Land.

It is well known that the Soil of Swan River, from its moist State,
is better adapted to the Cultivation of Tobacco and Cotton than
any other Part of Australia. Both of these Articles are intended to
be cultivated upon a large Scale, as also Sugar and Flax, with various
important Articles of Drugs that the Climate is peculiarly adapted
to the Growth of.

The undersigned are satisfied that, should they succeed in sending
Home to the Mother Country that Produce, which at the Moment the
Government are indebted to Powers which it would be their Policy
to suppress, were they in a Condition so to do, they will have
forwarded not alone the views of His Majesty’s Government, but

82 SELECT IJ^OGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

effected a national Good, which neither Time nor Circumstances
can erase from the Annals of British History.

Their grazing Operations will go very extensively into thp rearing
of Horses for the . East India Trade, with the most important
Establishment of large Herds of Cattle and Swine for the Purpose
of supplying His Majesty’s or other shipping with Salt Provisions,
as the proximity of Salt Mines of the best Description holds out a
great Inducement towards its Success.

There may be various Matters on which His Majesty’s Govern-
ifient may desire further Explanation; but it is the earnest Hope
that the Proposal now made may receive that favourable Construc-
tion, which the undersigned trust the Fairness thereof entitles it.

[Signed] Thos. Peel.

Francis Vincent.

Edward W. H. Schenley.

XT f . looo T. Potter Macqueen.

November 4, 1828. ^

[Note : For the opinion of the British Government on this plan see the enclosure
in Hay to Peel etc., 5 December 1828. H,R.A. Ill, 6, pp. 594-5.]

54, Instructions to Stirling. 1828.

(Murray to Stirling, 30 December 1828. H.R.A. Ill, 6, pp. 600-2.)

It having been resolved by His Majesty’s Govt, to occupy the
Port on the Western Coast of New Holland at the mouth of the
River called “Swan River” with the adjacent Territory for the
purpose of forming a Settlement there. His Majesty has been pleased
to approve the selection of yourself to have the command of the
Expedition appointed for that Service and the superintendance of
the proposed Settlement.

You will accordingly repair with all practicable despatch to the
place of your destination on board the Vessel, which has been
provided for that purpose.

As Swan River and the adjacent Territory are not within the
limits of any existing Colony, difficulties may easily be anticipated
in the course of your proceedings from the absence of all Civil
Institutions, Legislative, Judicial and financial.

Until provision can be made in due form of law for the govern-
ment of the projected Colony, the difficulties, to which I refer, must
be combated and will, I trust, be overcome by your own firmness
and discretion.

You will assume the Title of Lieut. Governor, and in that
character will correspond with this Department respecting your
proceedings and the wants and prospects of the Settlement you
are to form.

Amongst your earliest duties will be that of determining the

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS 83

most convenient site for a Town to be erected as the future Seat
of Government.

You will be called upon to weigh maturely the advantages,
which rnay arise from placing it on so secure a situation as may
be afforded on various points of the Swan River, against those
which may follow from establishing it on so fine a port for the
reception of Shipping, as Gockburn Sound is represented to be;
and more effectually to guard against the evils to be apprehended
from an improvident disposal of the land in the immediate vicinity of
the Town, you will take care that a square of three Miles (or 1,929
acres) is reserved for its future extension; and that the land within
this space is not granted away (as in ordinary cases) but shall be
held upon leases from the Crown for a term not exceeding 2 1 years.
You will from the commencement of the undertaking be observant
of the necessity of marking out and reserving for public purposes
all those peculiar positions within or in the vicinity of the p|*ojected
Town, which from natural advantages or otherwise will probably be
essential to the future welfare of the Settlement. In laying the
foundations of any such Town, care must be taken to proceed upon
a regular plan, leaving all vacant spaces, which will in future times
be required for thoroughfares and as the Sites of Churches, Cemet-
ries, and other Public Works of utility and general convenience.

You will cause it to be understood that His Majesty has granted
to you the power of making all necessary locations of land. For your
guidance in this respect, ample instructions will at a future period
be prepared. In the meantime, I enclose a copy of the Instructions
of the Governor of New South Wales on this subject to which you
will adhere as closely as circumstances will admit.

You will bear in mind that, in all locations of Territory, a due
proportion must be reserved for the Grown, as well as for the
maintenance of the Clergy, support of Establishments for the
purpos<^s of Religion and the Education of youth, concerning which
objects, more particulars will be transmitted to you hereafter.

I think it necessary also to caution you thus early, as land on the
Sea or River side will naturally be the first to be located, that you
must be careful not to grant more than a due proportion of Sea or
River Frontage to any Settler. The great advantage to be derived
from an easy water communication will of course not escape your
consideration, and this advantage should be divided amongst as
many settlers as can conveniently benefit by their position in the
vicinity.

In regard to the surveys and explications of the Country which
you may think it right to set on foot, it is perhaps premature to
give you any instructions upon a point, where so much must be
left to your own discretion and the intelligence as to the nature of

84 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

the soil and of the Country which you may obtain on the spot;
looking however to the future prospects of the Settlerr.ent and to
the advantages of its local position, I should be inclined to think
that it will be expedient to make the Country South of Swan River
the scene of your labors rather than the tract of Country North
of that Stream, and that you will do well to invite the Settlers to
locate themselves according to this suggestion.

You will endeavour to settle with the consent of the parties
concerned a Court of Arbitration for the decision of such questions
o^ Civil right as may arise between the early Settlers and until a
more regular form of administering Justice can be organized.

You will recommend by your Counsels and example the habitual
observance of Sunday as a day of rest and Public Worship, as far
as may be compatible with the circumstances in which you may be
placed.

With ^these few and general instructions for your guidance,
assisted by the oral and written communications which have taken
place between yourself and this Department, you will I trust be
able to surmount the difficulties to which you may be exposed at
the outset, enhanced though they will be by the want of any regular
Commission for administering the Government.

An instrument of that nature accompanied with all the requisite
instructions will be transmitted to you as soon as the indispensable
forms of proceeding in such cases will allow.

55. Social Conditions in Western Australia. 1837.

(Copy of a Despatch from the Governor of Western Australia to
Lord Glenelg, 3 December 1837. P.P, 1838, XL, 687, loc, cit.)

The further extension of tillage is impeded by the want of labour-
ers; and the very high wages demanded, compel those who prin-
cipally depend on hired workmen, in rural occupations, to seek
the means of employing their capital in pursuits less dependent on
the whims and caprices of the labouring class. In consequence of
this, the raising of wheat will be confined to those families the
members of which are sufficient for the work of the farm on which
they live; and the higher class of settlers will endeavour to invest
their means in the rearing of live stock. The adaptation of this
country to the purposes of wheat growing may be, however, consid-
ered as proved beyond all doubt; but this article cannot be profit-
ably cultivated for exportation until there is a greater command of
labour. The culture of the vine, fig, peach, and melon tribe, has
been carried thus early to a considerable extent; and if ever it
should be desirable for the mother country to possess a wine-
growing colony, the soils and seasons of this country afford reason-
able ground fon anticipating a successful issue to such speculation.

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS 85

The return of profit on sheep-keeping may be estimated in the
gross at 75 per cent, per annum. The rate is undoubtedly higher here,
where the price of meat is high, and the value of land low, than it
can be in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. After deduc-
ting the expenses of shepherding, and allowing a reasonable rent
for the land on which the flock is maintained, a net profit remains
to the owner of about 50 per cent, per annum. Such a profit as
this, combined with the means of extending indefinitely the number
of sheep farms, must attract to this branch of investment, in the
course of a few years, a large amount of capital. At present'^the
absence of funds within the .colony applicable to such purposes,
and the prejudices which unjustly exist in respect of its capabilities,
together with the mishaps attendant on the importation of sheep
from other places, impose obstacles on its extension, impart from
natural increase.

Horses and cattle may be expected to multiply rapidly from this
time forward. In addition to the numbers of the latter, stated in
the preceding return, there are known to exist four or five wild
herds in different parts of the colony, which have maintained
themselves without protection against the natives for several years,
and are rapidly increasing their numbers.

Looking to the small number of colonists, and to the few years
they have been established in this country, the extent of land in
cultivation, and the quantity of useful animals in their posses-
sion, are highly satisfactory. The settlement is now enabled
to feel, that in less than eight years from its foundation, it has
arrived at the point of producing its own subsistence, and is entirely
independent of other places for the support of its inhabitants.

The arts connected with building, and agricultural implement
making, employ a considerable portion of the workmen of the
settlement; and it is, in consequence, better provided with the
products of the first-named of those arts, than is usual in countries
so recently occupied. Many convenient and substantial houses
have been erected in the towns, and by the employment thereby
given to artificers, a large number have been induced to remain,
who would otherwise have quitted the settlement; carpenters,
masons, plasterers, blacksmiths, painters, and other artisans, have
hitherto received high wages ; but some of them are beginning to
turn their thoughts to rural occupations,' in consequence of an
anticipated diminution of employment in their proper pursuits.
Being usually superior in education, and in steadiness of conduct,
to labourers in general, the class to which they belong is one of the
most valuable in colonies, and therefore it is not to be regretted
that a very large sum has been invested in buildings, by the outlay
of which they have been induced to settle in this country.

86 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
€

Since the earliest discovery of this coast, it has been known to
abound in various description of fish. The Malays have carried
on, for at Ipast 200 years, an extensive and profitable tripang and
tortoiseshell fishery, on the north-west coast. Dampier, Baudin,
and King, at different periods, have reported the existence of
astonishing numbers of whales in the adjacent seas; and our own
experience since the establishment of the colony, and still more
recently since whale fishing commenced in its bays, about 12 months
ago, confirms the reports of the earlier navigators. This abundance
of feh is probably connected with the existence of a bank, which
adjoins the shore from the northern to the southern extremity of
the colony. On this shoal, which extends for 30 or 40 miles from
the land, and which is composed, for the most part, of calcareous,
or coraline substances, there exist several varieties of edible fish,
which admit of being cured for exportation.

The vapous descriptions of fishery which may be carried on
under such circumstances must eventually employ a large amount
of capital, and a great number of seamen; markets for their produce
are open in China, as w^ll as in Europe.

At present there are only four whaling establishments or associa-
tions ; these are not as yet upon an efficient footing, but their success
has been great enough to ensure their future improvement and
extension. The catching of fish for the purposes of food gives
profitable employment to a few boatmen; and the convenience
afforded in the estuaries for learning in smooth water the art of
managing boats, seems likely to attract to maritime pursuits a large
number of young men.

Boat-building is carried on with much success by two establish-
ments, and some of the native woods are found to be well suited
to those purposes.

’ The operations of the miller, baker, and brewer, tanner, shoe-
maker, and clothier, are in course of improverrient and extension;
and the community, although limited to a very small number of
persons, suffers no serious inconvenience from the absence of any
of the arts and trades which administer to the primary wants of man.

The number of persons exclusively engaged in the civil, judicial,
clerical, and military branches of the public service amounts to 160.

In other public offices, independent of the government, such as
printers, inn-keepers, &c. there are employed about 34; as this
description of persons, however necessary their labours may be
to the general welfare, do not contribute directly to the produce
of commodities, their number, together with that of their families,
must be deducted from the gross population, in comparing the
productive classes with the products of labour.

The internal consumption of commodities having been of late

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT^

in a great measure limited to the products of the land, and the
importation of foreign articles having decreased in proportion, the
mercantile part of the community has had much reason complain
of the* want of business in general. The traffic in tea, sugar, spirits,
clothing, harness, earthenware, glass, and ammunition, has been
carried on at very high prices, and with great profit. Traders being
a class of persons whose capital is always available for any specu-
lation which may offer, and colonial farmers being alw-ays in need
of advances, the mercantile men in this community, possessed of
means, have frequent opportunities of laying them out to advanPage,
either by monopolizing particular commodities,' or by giving credits
at high interest; they have therefore had their full share of the
general prosperity, even in the absence of any considerable demand
for merchandise. They are at this time looking forward to an increase
in the exports of the colony, as the probable cause of an extension
of business; in the meantime, money, in proportion to theVeasonable
demand for it, is abundant. A joint-stock bank has been recently
established, and facilitates the transaction of business. The principles
on which it is founded are such as to render it an institution of a
most beneficial character, while the names offthe subscribers, as
well as the cautious system of management adopted, ensure to the
public the most judicious and equitable employment of its means.
Its discounts on bills are done at the rate of 12 J per cent, per annum,
and it allows depositors, under the usual regulations of savings’
banks, an interest at the rate of five per cent.

The bills of the Commissariat upon the Treasury have been
hitherto negotiated at the rate of l| per cent, premium, but the
demand for them is gradually decreasing, and will cease entirely
when the value of colonial exports is equal to the value of goods
imported, unless an increase of population from without extend the
demand for imported commodities. Private bills on England are
usually subjected to a discount of five per cent., and this appears
to be a reasonable charge where there are no considerable
remittances to be effected (pp. 9-lL).

. , . even those who have the smallest share in the aggregate wealth,
or indeed no share at all, may attain to comparative affluence by
their own labour, at the present rate of wages, &c., and it is undoubt-
edly in the power of the poorest individual, who is free from bodily
infirmity, and from vicious propensities, to procure for himself in
this country, by industry, not only the necessaries of life, but future
independence of labour.

That the climate is congenial to health, as well as to enjoyment,
there is, as yet, no reason to doubt; what its effects may be on the
constitution and form of the European, there has ^ot been sufficient

88 SELECT DOG^UMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

time to ascertain. The children born in the colony appear to be of
very rapid growth, and possibly may attain to a more slender
frame of body than their progenitors; they are, in the meantime,
exempt from many of those diseases which afflict and destroy, in
childhood, so many persons in more rigorous climates. The educa-
tion of youth, for very obvious reasons, has not as yet been brought
under any systematic arrangement. Elementary schools have been
established in the two principal towns, to which all are admissable
without pavment.

The state of morality, with exception of a tendency to the
excessive use of spirituous liquors amongst certain individuals, is
very satisfactory. Even of the small number of offences committed
against the laws, the greater proportion has originated amongst
those who have come to this colony from the neighbouring penal
settlements.

Civil actions have decreased in number to one half of their
former amount within the past year, notwithstanding that the
redress of injuries has been rendered less expensive in minor cases
by the reduction of^fees.

Divine service, according to the Established Church, is attended
at Perth by about 200 persons; and in that town, as well as in
Guildford and Albany, there are Independant chapels.

It is deserving of record in this place, that since the foundation
of the settlement in 1829, to the present date, the law has not found
occasion to impose sentence of death upon any individual
(pp. 12-13).

At the outset of the colony various circumstances concurred to
create an interest in the undertaking, and to cause a considerable
influx of people; but the actual progress made in its formation for
the first three or four years was by no means equal to its apparent
growth, and the increase in numbers. The face of the country near
the sea was uninviting; the losses consequent upon exposure to the
weather, the want of experience in such adventures, and in many
cases the want of means, gave rise in their several ways to doubt
and despondency; very few engaged with spirit in their proper
avocations, and many left or talked of leaving a place in which
there was evidently much to be done and borne before success
could be attained. In the meanwhile there were no returns coming
in from the land, nor money to pay for imported articles; the
necessaries of life were at enormous prices, and the funds of the
settlers were generally exhausted in their own support, instead of
being applied to the advancement of their farms and business. The

THE FIRST SETTLEMEN'-SS

disappointments experienced within the colony affected its repu-
tation in other places, and a stop was put for a time to further
immigration. To complete the catalogue of difficultjes, conflicts
with the natives were continually occurring, and too often ended in
the loss of property and life (p. 19).

[Note: This is one man’s picture of the early years at Swan River. For other
accounts see N. Ogle: The Colony of Western Australia; F. G. Irwin: The State and
Position of Western Australia; G. F. Moore: Diary of Ten Tears^ Eventful Life of an
Early Settler in Western Australia; E. O. G. Shann: Cattle Chosen.

For the constitutional history of Western Australia up to 1850 see Section
1, G of this volume.]

1. Port Phillip

56. A Description of the Site of Melbourne in 1803.

(A Journal of the Explorations of Charles Grimes, Acting Surveyor-
General of New South Wales. Kept by James Fleming. Published
in J. J. Shillinglaw: Historical Records of Port Phillip: the first annals of
the colony of Victoria^ pp. 24-5.)

[Note : These papers were first published in the Victorian Parliamentary Papers
1878, Vol. I, Paper No. 15. The title of the paper was “Port Phillip Society-
First Survey and Settlement of— Copies of certain recently discovered historical
Records etc.”.]

Wednesday, 2nd February. — At the usual time the same party as
yesterday, with the addition of the doctor, went on shore; for about
a mile the land dry, a light sandy soil; and afterwards a large
swamp with three lagoons in it, all dry. The land appears to be
covered with water in wet seasons. Game to a salt lagoon about a
mile long and a quarter of a mile wide; had not entrance to the sea
Soon afterwards came to a large river 2; went up it about a mile
when we turned back and waited for the boat to take us on board.
I’hc ground is a swamp on one side and high on the other Saw
many swans, pelicans, and ducks. Were obliged to go up to our
middle to get to the boat, and got on board between five and six
o’clock. Rain and thunder in the night.

Thursday, 3rd.— At six o’clock the captain, Mr. Grimes, self, and
five seamen went in the boat up the Great River; at between two
and three miles it divided into two^; we took the left hand stream
at half past eight o’clock. The land became high, where we landed
and went on a hill. The soil a reddish loam from ten to fifteen inches
deep. Saw a large lagoon at a distance. Went over the hill to a

^ Carrum Garrum.

2 The Yarra Yarra River.

® About Footscray.

^ The Saltwater and Yarra Rivers.

90 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

large swamp Soil black, eighteen inches, with blue clay at bottom.
No trees for many miles. Game to the boat and proceeded on;
passed two tiingles; no water; came to a third where we found some
water, where we dined and proceeded on. Opposite this the land
is stony soil, stiff blue clay, and no trees only some straggling oaks
by the side of the river. We went up the river till we came to rocks®;
could not get the boat over; crossed it at a place the natives had
made for catching fish. It was still salt though a great fall; went
abo^t two miles on the hills which are level at top and full of stones,
the land very bad, and very few trees, and appeared so to the moun-
tains, which appeared clothed with timber. On our return back
came to the river a little higher up and found it excellent fresh water,
where it divided and appeared deep enough for a boat. Just as we
got to the boat it began to thunder and rain. Stopped a little time
and came back till we could procure wood to make a fire, and it
being sunset stopped the night.

Friday, 4th. — Started at six and came to the branch we passed
before, at the entrance the land swampy; a few miles up found it
excellent water, where we saw a little hilN and landed. The time
dinner was getting ready Messrs. Robbins, Grimes, and self went
on the hill, where we saw the lagoon® seen from the hill where we
first landed. It is in a large swamp between the two rivers; fine
grass, fit to mow; not a b^ush in it. The soil is black rich earth
about six to ten inches deep, when it is very hard and stiff. It is
better farther back. About two miles further went on shore again;
the land much better and timber larger. Soil black, ten to fifteen
inches deep ; bottom sand or gravel. I went to the other side where
the ground was the same; went in about two miles; it began to rain.
I returned to the boat and after dinner we all got on board and
arrived on board the vessel at dusk. Saw a canoe and two native huts.

57. Batman’s Treaty with the Aborigines. 1835.

(MS. in Melbourne Public Library.)

Know all persons, that we, three brothers, Jagajaga, Jagajaga,
Jagajaga, being the principal chiefs, and also Cooloolock, Bungarie,
Yanyan, Moowhip, Mommarmalar, being the chiefs of a certain
native tribe called Dutigallar, situate at and near Port Philip,
called by us, the above-mentioned chiefs, Iransnoo and Geelong,
being possessed of the tract of land hereinafter mentioned, for and

® Moonee Ponds.

® Solomon’s Ford.

Batman’s Hill; now levelled and a part of the station of the Victorian
Railways.

® Batman’s or West 'Melbourne Swamp.

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT’S

in consideration of 20 pair blankets, 30 knives, 12 tomahawks,
10 looking-glasses, 12 pairs scissors, 50 handkerchiefs, 12 red shirts,
four flannel jackets, four suits of clothes, and 50 l}Js. of flour,
delivered to us by John Batman, residing in Van Diemen’s Land,
esquire, but at present sojourning with us and our tribe, do, for
ourselves, our heirs and successors, give, grant, enfeoff and confirm
unto the said John Batman, his heirs and assigns, ail that tract of
country situate and being in the bay of Port Philip, known by the
name of Indented Head, but called by us Geelong, exten4ing
across from Geelong harbour, about due south, for 10 miles, more
or less, to the head of Port Philip, taking in the whole neck or tract
of land, and containing about 100,000 acres, as the same hath been
before the execution of these presents delineated and marked out
by us, according to the custom of our tribe, by certain marks made
upon the trees growing along the boundaries of the said tract of
land ; to hold the said tract of land, with all advantages* belonging
thereto, unto and to the use of the said John Batman, his heirs and
assigns for ever, to the intent that the said John Batman, his heirs
and assigns, may occupy and possess the said tract of land, and place
thereon sheep and cattle, yielding and delivering to us and our
heirs or successors the yearly rent or tribute of 50 pair of blankets,
50 knives, 50 tomahawks, 50 pair scissors, 50 looking-glasses, 20
suits of slops or clothing, and two tons of flour. In witness whereof,
we, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, the three principal chiefs, and also
Cooloolock, Bungarie, Yanyan, Moowhip, and Mommarmalar, the
chiefs of the said tribe, have hereunto affixed our seals to these
presents, and have signed the same.

Dated according to the Christian era, this 6th day of June 1835.

Signed, sealed and delivered
in the presence of us, the same
having been fully and proper-
ly interpreted and explained
to the said chiefs.

[signed] James Gumm,

Alexander Thomson,
Wm. Todd.

Jagajaga, his X mark.
Jagajaga, his X mark.
Jagajaga, his X mark.
Cooloolock, his X mark.
Bungarie, his X mark.
Yanyan, his X mark.
Moowhip, his X mark.
Mommarmalar, his X mark.

[signed] John Batman.

Be it remembered, that on the day and year within written,
possession and delivery of the tract of land within-mentioned,
was made by the within named Jagajaga, Jagajaga, Jagajaga,
Cooloolock, Bungarie, Yanyan, Moowhip, Mommarmalar, chiefs
of the tribes of natives called Dutigallar Geeloiig, to the within-

92 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

named John Batman, by the said chiefs taking up part of the soil,
and delivering the same to the said John Batman, in the name of

the whole : j

Jagajaga,

In presence of Jagajaga,

Gooloolock,

[signed] James Gumm, Bungarie,

Alexander Thomson, Yanyan,

Wm. Todd. Moowhip,

Mommarmalar.

[Note: By a similar treaty, signed on the same day, Batman also ‘'acquired”
from the natives a tract of about 500,000 acres of land in the Melbourne district.]

58. Batman on the Yarra, June 1835.

(The Settlement of John Batman in Port Phillip from his own
Journal p. 22, Victorian Pamphlets Vol. CXXVIL Original in
Melbourne Public Library.)

June 8. — The wind foul this morning for Indented Head — we
tried but could not get out of the River — The Boat went up the
large River, I have spoken of which comes from the East and I am
glad to state about six miles up found the River, all good water and
very deep — this will be the place for a Village — The Natives on
shore.

59. Batman on the Treaty with the Aborigines. 1835.

(Letter of Batman to Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s Land,
25 June 1835. Papers of the Port Phillip Association.)

I fully explained to them that the object of my visit was to purchase
from them a tract of their country. . . .

The Chiefs appeared most fully to comprehend my proposals
and much delighted with the prospect of having me to live among
them.

60. The Governor declares Batman and Co. to be Trespas-
sers. 1835.

{JV.S.W. Government Gazette^ 2 September 1835.)

PROCLAMATION

By His Excellency Major-General Sir Richard Bourke, K.C.B.,
Commanding His Majesty’s Forces, Captain-General and
Governor-in- Chief of the Territory of New South Wales and its
Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same, &c. &c. &c.
Whereas, it has been represented to me, that divers of His
Majesty’s subjects have taken possession of vacant Lands of the

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

Grown, within the limits of this Colony, under the pretence of a
treaty, bargain, or contract, for the purchase thereof, with the
Aboriginal Natives; Now therefore, I the Governor, in virtue and in
exercise" of the power and authority in me vested, do hereby
proclaim and notify to all His Majesty’s subjects and others whom it
may concern, that every such treaty, bargain, and contract with
the Aboriginal Natives as aforesaid, for the possession, title, or
claim to any Lands lying and being within the limits of the Govern-
ment of the Colony of New South Wales, as the same are laid down
and defined by His Majesty’s Commission; that is to say, extendiiig
from the Northern Gape or extremity of the coast called Cape York,
in the latitude of ten degrees thirty-seven minutes south, to the
southern extremity of the said Territory of New South Wales,
or Wilson’s Promontory, in the latitude of thirty-nine degrees
twelve minutes south, and embracing ail the country inland to the
westward, as far as the one hundred and twenty-ninth degree of
east longitude, reckoning from the meridian of Greenwich, includ-
ing ail the Islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean within the latitude
aforesaid, and including also Norfolk Island, is void and of no
effect against the rights of the Crown; and that all Persons who
shall be found in possession of any such Lands as aforesaid, without
the license or authority of His Majesty’s Government, for such
purpose, first had and obtained, will be considered as trespassers,
and liable to be dealt with in like manner as other intruders upon
the vacant lands of the Grown within the said Colony.

GIVEN UNDER MY HAND AND SEAL, AT GOVERNMENT
HOUSE, SYDNEY, THIS TWENTY-SIXTH DAY OF
AUGUST, ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND
THIRTY-FIVE.

RICHARD BOURKE.

BY HIS EXCELLENCY’S COMMAND,

ALEXANDER McLEAY.

GOD SAVE THE KING!

61. The Secretary of State on Batman’s Treaty. 1836.

(Glenelg to Bourke, 13 April 1836. H,R,A. I, 18, p. 379.)

I yet believe that we should consult very ill for the real welfare
of that helpless and unfortunate Race by recognising in them any
right to alienate to private adventurers the Land of the Colony.
It is indeed enough to observe that such a concession would
subvert the foundation on which all Proprietary rights in New
South Wales at present rest, and defeat a large part of the most
important Regulations of the Local Government.

94 SELECT DQGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

62. Tlie Recognition of Fort Phillip. 1836.

{Jsf.S.W, Government Gazette^ 14 September 1836.)

Colonial Secretary’s Office,

Notice. 9:9: 36.

Port Phillip.

His Majesty’s Government having authorised the location of
Settlers on the vacant Crown Lands adjacent to the shores of Port
Phillip under the same Regulations as are now in force for the
alienation of Crown Lands in other parts of New South Wales,
and several persons having already passed over there from Van
Diemen’s Land, His Excellency the Governor has been pleased to
appoint Captain WILLIAM LONSDALE, of the 4th., or King’s
Own Regiment, to be Police Magistrate for that district, of which
all persons concerned are hereby required to take notice.

Arrangements are in progress for effecting the Survey and
Measurement of such parts of the Land near Port Phillip as it may
be expedient to dispose of in the first instance; but until the same
have been completed, of which due notice will be given, no appli-
cations for purchase can be entertained. In the mean time, it is
distinctly to be understood by those persons who may be desirous
of resorting to Port Phillip from other parts of New South Wales,
or from Van Diemen’s Land, that no advantage will be obtained by
the occupation of any land at that place previously to its conveyance
of a legal instrument from the Government of New South Wales,
as without such title the land (unless required for public purposes)
will be subject to be put up for competition at a Public Sale, and
sold to the best bidder.

By His Excellency’s Command,

ALEXANDER McLEAY.

63. Bourke’s Impressions of Port Phillip. 1837.

(Bourke to Glenelg, 14 June 1837. KR.A, I, 18, pp. 780-3.)

I have had occasion to mention incidentally in Despatches
addressed to Yr. Lordship that I had thought it necessary to go
from hence to Port Phillip in the month of March last for the
arrangement of various matters connected with the successful
occupation of that remote part of this Government, I delayed
making any specific report of what I observed during my visit, or
directed to be done in consequence of it, until I could forward a
Map of the Country over which I travelled. By the kind assistance
of Captain King of the Royal Navy, who accompanied me on the
tour, I am now enabled to transmit a sketch of the ground adjacent
of the waters of Port Phillip, extending inland in a northerly
direction to Mt,. Macedon, the nearest point of Major Mitchell’s

THE FIRST SETTLExMENTS^ 95

late survey, with which it is thus connected. To the Country thus
described, which when more accurately defined hereafter, will
probably form a County of a large size, I have, at the desire of the
Residents, permitted my name to be attached on the Manuscript,
awaiting His Majesty’s gracious allowance before publication
takes place. If Your Lordship thinks well of having this Sketch added
to the Map of the Colony, which I presume Major IMitchell is about
to publish in London, I have to request he may be informed on
the subject.

I have now to acquaint Your Lordship that I found, on Tny
arrival on the spot selected for a settlement by Mr. Batman on the
banks of the Yarra River at the head of the Inland Sea called Port
Phillip, an assembled Population consisting of from sixty to seventy
families. The situation appearing to be well chosen, I directed a
Town to be immediately laid out, which Your Lordship will
perceive by the Map has received the name of Melbourne.. Conceiv-
ing it to be an object of some importance to enable the families I
have mentioned to place themselves with as little delay as possible
on property of their own, I directed 100 allotments to be measured
and offered for sale at Melbourne on the first of this month. I also
directed a few allotments to be put up in Williams Town on the
shore of Hobson’s Bay, where stores and Commissariat Establish-
ments are likely to be soon formed. I have not yet received an
account of the sales, but I have no doubt the allotments are readily
purchased at advanced prices.

I found, at the beginning of March last, that the population in
the whole district exceeded 500 souls, and, before I left Melbourne
at the end of that month, the flocks, which had been sent from
V. D.’s Land, numbered more than 100,000 sheep. The Country,
which I traversed by the routes marked blue on the sketch, is of a
varied description, but generally the pasture may be described as
superior in quality to the average of the Districts of New S. Wales,
which have been earlier settled. It is not for the most part well
watered, but the general character of the Country is such as to
render it a very desirable position for Settlers, whether Graziers
or Agriculturists, and there is I think little doubt of its soon becom-
ing the resort of Emigrants from Europe, as it is now one of those
Inhabitants of Van Diemen’s Land, who find it difficult to extend
their possessions or to establish their families to their liking on the
Land remaining for selection in the Colony.

As there is thus but little doubt that this Settlement will increase
rapidly in numbers and wealth, it becomes of some importance to
consider in what way its Government can be best administered and
the Inhabitants obtain the benefit of the essential Institutions of
Civil Society.

96 SELECT DqCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

With respect to Government, I apprehend that the great distance
between Sydney and Melbourne, whether the communication be
by land or- water, will render it extremely difficult for some time at
least to keep up those frequent references upon ordinary as well as
important subjects, which are required to be made to the seat of
Government. The distance by land exceeds 550 miles, and the
route passing for nearly 400 miles through a country as yet but
little traversed or known, the time required to accomplish it on
Horseback can hardly be taken at less than ten days. A passage by
wa€er may be effected in steam vessels in about four days; but the
Steamers to encounter in winter the sea on the Eastern and Southern
Coast of New South Wales must be of considerable size and power,
and the Establishment of such will not, I imagine, be attractive
to private speculation until the new settlement has made so consider-
able a progress as to create a commercial intercourse of some
importance between the two places. But it may be further observed
that the vicinity of Launceston in V. D.’s Land to Port Phillip seems
to point out the former as the mart to which the Inhabitants of
the latter will for some time resort. To keep up, therefore, a regular
intercourse between the Districts of Port Phillip and Sydney, it
would be necessary for the present to Establish Govt. Steam vessels.
The expence of these would be very heavy, and it is for consideration
whether to diminish the necessity for frequent intercourse by the
appointment of a Military Officer as Lieut. Governor or
Commandant with Civil as well as Military Authority will not be
a preferable expedient. To a Functionary of this character, all the
officers of Government at Port Phillip and in the Sothern Districts
might be required to report and receive his orders and the authority
for their proceedings, whilst periodical Reports should be made
on his part to the Government at Sydney.

With respect to legislation, I do not consider that the appointment
of a Lieut- Governor would render necessary a separate Council
or assembly for the Southern Districts of New South Wales. There
would be no great inconvenience in requiring the attendance at
Sydney for the Session of those, who might be appointed or elected
Members of the Colonial Legislature.

With respect to the administration of the Law, Your Lordship
will perceive, by the annexed Letter of the Attorney General, that
he proposes an addition of a fourth Judge to the Bench of the
Supreme Court of New South Wales in order that one of the four
may be available for holding assizes twice a year at Port Phillip
and discharging the other duties both there and in Sydney, which
he describes. The arrangement proposed by Mr. Plunkett would
probably be sufficient for some time without the institution at Port
Phillip of Quarter Sessions or a Court of Requests. But, to provide

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

with regularity a passage between Sydney and Melbourne for the
Judge and attendants on the Court, it would be necessary to
establish the Government Vessel, to which I have alluded in a
former paragraph of this Despatch, and on which subject I have the
honor to address Your Lordship a separate Despatch by this
opportunity under another cover.

The Expense, which it may be necessary to incur under the
proposed arrangement, is detailed in an annexed Schedule and
submitted for consideration. I imagine the whole charge for ^ort
Phillip may for some time be defrayed by the Sale of Land within
the districts and the receipt of duties of Customs. The latter for the
Quarter ending the 5 January last amounted to £329.

In my Despatch of the 15 Septr. last. No. 101, I informed your
Lordship of the measures I had adopted for opening to location the
district in question, and of the appointments I had made from hence
for the purpose. I found, when at Port Phillip, that the Police
Magistrate, Captn. Wm. Lonsdale, late of the 4th Foot, had
conducted the varied duties of his station with great ability and
zeal, and that through his activity and discretion the comfort of the
settlers and the preservation of good order in the district had been
fully provided for. I found also that great kindness and attention had
been paid to the Aboriginal Natives both by him and the Missionary
Langhorne. I have given to them both every assistance in my power,
and I indulge a hope, notwithstanding some unfortunate occur-
rences, that the intercourse between these natives and the white
Population of Port Phillip will be carried on with greater benefit to
the former than has hitherto been experienced in other parts of
the Colony.

I have not had occasion to make any material addition to the
Establishments of Port Phillip reported in my Despatch of 15 Septr.
last. Additions both to the fixed and contingent charges will, however,
be unavoidable as the Settlement encreases in numbers. The expen-
diture on account of the Settlement from the occupation by this
Government in October last to the close of the year amounts to
about £3000, and has been defrayed from the Revenue of Grown
Lands, to which Revenue it is probable the Sale of Grown Lands
situated within the District will hereafter make a considerable
addition. I propose to put such lands up to Sale as soon as the
necessary surveys are completed.

64. A Sydney Journalist in Melbourne. 1838.

{Sydney Gazette, 15 November 1838.)

Melbourne. — The town of Melbourne is now half a mile in
length, the houses at intervals extending over the whole of that
space, the habitations at a rough guess are three hundred and fifty;

98 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

the population one thousand, including children not under twelve
years of age, and for the protection of its inhabitants and their
property, -there are, I believe, only four constables. Haw they
divide the watches I do not know; but sure I am that if they were
up altogether during the whole of the night, they would not be
sufficient to guard against the depredations so constantly committed;
it is easy for the house breaker to watch them off their beat and
effect his deeds of darkness, as for me to peal and eat a roasted
potato.

65, New South Wales Squatters Move into Port Phillip
1838 c.

(T. F. Bride (Editor) : Letters from Victorian Pioneers^ pp. 50-4.)

[Note: This is a memorandum by one of these squatters. For other example
see the letters in the same volume.]

, . . On my arrival in Sydney I found Port Phillip was attracting
much attention, and to keep up the excitement I addressed a letter
to the editor of the Colonist newspaper stating the possibility of
tunning a post. . . .

On the 15th January 1838 I started from Strathallen, county
St. Vincent, New South Wales, with 1,400 ewes, 50 rams, 200
wethers, 2 drays, 18 bullocks; 10 men (all prisoners of the Crown);
1 cart and horse, 1 saddle-horse, 2 brood mares, private property;
and Mr. Hawdon, and two children. In travelling I found the
greatest hospitality from the settlers. Mr. William Coghill had
mustered his sheep on the Murrumbidgee, to accompany me to
Port Phillip about the end of the month. After joining GoghilPs
party, one of my drays broke down, which caused some delay;
in this delay Mr. William Bowman overtook us, and arrangements
were entered into for the three parties to keep company until all
were satisfactorily settled^ in the new country. After leaving the
last settlement on the Murrumbidgee, we took a route more to
the eastward than my former track, several parties having pre-
ceded us on this route — Ebden, Howey, and Hamilton. We crossed
the Murray at the spot where Hovell and Hume had crossed many
years before, and where a tree with the name of Hume still stood
to mark the spot. We now were out of all reach of stations, Ebden’s
cattle station being' the last. At this point we overtook Mr. W.
Hamilton, who had been eight days crossing his sheep, and had
suffered some small loss. Mr. Bowman had about 5,000 sheep,
Mr. Coghill 2,000, making, with my lot, in all near 9,000; from
our arrangements we crossed the whole of the sheep in 2-| hours
without the loss of a single sheep; we followed the track of those
before us, which was not difficult, and in a short distance came on
to the Major’s Ime, which was easily recognised at this time. My

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS.

men, who had the lead of the party, refused to keep the advance,
thinking their labours were more than the others’ ; but they were
soon taught a lesson which they never forgot, and the}^ behaved
well for the remainder of the journey. We reached the Goulburn,
surveying all the fine-looking country, and saw many beautiful
spots — ^very beautiful spots — between the Ovens and the Goulburn ;
but I was anxious to avoid what was likely to become a general
road, and to get within 100 miles of the settlement and no large
river between. . . . Next morning, March 2nd 1838, we crowed
the river, all safe, without any molestation from the natives. Here
we overtook Mr. John Harrison and Mr. Hamilton, who had
pushed on to get the choice of the country. We assisted these
gentlemen to cross their sheep. Hamilton advanced, and we took
a day’s rest on this beautiful spot. Before advancing any further I
may now state what country was taken up, and by whom. The
station-holders were A. Mollison, C. H. Ebden, Capt*. Brown,
Harrison, Coghill, Bowman, and myself. No other sheep herds
crossed the Goulburn up to the above date. A. Mollison after
crossing the Goulburn kept the Major’s line, and took up the
Coliban, afterwards sold to Mr. Orr. Mr. Ebden took up the
Sugarloaf Creek, but abandoned that part of the country and
took up Carlsruhe. Howey, about the same time, took up his run
on the east side of the mountain — now Riddell and Hamilton’s
and the township of Gisborne. This station was the first connecting
the runs taken up by the V.D. Land settlers. Capt. Brown took
up the spot described in my former journal, now Dr. Baynton’s
station, and Mr. William Hamilton took up the Sugarloaf Creek,
left by Mr. Ebden. About this time, or shortly afterwards, an old
military officer named White took up the adjoining country.
Coghill and myself started with Bowman, who took up the north
side of Mr. Byng — now Alexander of far fame, kept it^ a short
time, and sold the stock to Umphelby, who sold to Orr, in whose
possession it now is. Coghill’s and my own stock we left on the
Gampaspe plains, and we advanced to look for country suitable
for our purpose, which we found. I took up Smeaton Hill on the
15th of April 1838, having just been three nionths travelling.
About ten days after, the Goghills took up their stations, Glen-,
daruel and Glendonald ; Harrison, who was too wise to be advised
by me, came nearer the settlement, and took up a country I am
not acquainted with, viz., the Plenty. After being some months on
our respective stations — that is Coghill and myself — ^we found to
the south of us the country about Buninyong taken up by Lear-
month; the Leigh River by Yuille. Between the last-mentioned
parties, Anderson took up a station, thus crowding the .stations so
close that in a short time they found out their mistake. The same

100 SELECT D43GUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

year Pettctt and Francis took up Dowling Forest, which would
have been my run only for my ignorance, thinking it too rich for
sheep. Messrs. Irvine and Birch made their appearance, . and sat
down between Smeaton and Glendonald, and called the station
Seven Hills. In 1839 — the early part of this year — Mr. W. Kirk
took up the run outside me, but abandoned it, and took up a large
run west of Mt. Cole, afterwards Ross and McGill’s. Then came
Capt. McLachlan and D. Cameron, who both sat down on
Spaeaton. McLachlan, after much persuasion, took up the ground
left by Kirk, and D. Cameron that left by Irvine, now known as
Clunes. About this time, Simson, Dutton, and Darlot took up the
Loddon; then Bowerman took up the ground where Robertson
and Skene’s is, and all about Burnbank; in the meantime Lear-
month extended his run in a direct line, purchased Bowerman’s
stock, and connected the whole line of country from Buninyong
to Burnbank — about 30 miles. He afterwards sold part to Dr.
Griffin and Elms

66, Proclamation of Port Phillip. 1839.

(J\f,S,fV, Government Gazette^ 11 September 1839.)

Colonial Secretary’s Office,

Sydney, 10th September, 1839.

Port Phillip.

Her Majesty the Queen having been pleased to command that
Charles Joseph La Trobe, Esquire,
shall be appointed Superintendent of the Settlement and District
of Port Phillip, His Excellency the Governor directs it to be notified
that a Commission containing such Appointment has been issued
accordingly, under the Great Seal of the Territory, and the pre-
scribed Oaths have been this day administered to his Honour in the
presence of the Governor and the Executive Council.

The District of Port Phillip will comprise that portion of the
Territory of New South Wales which lies to the south of the thirty-
sixth degree of south latitude, and betwen the one hundred and
forty-first and one hundred and forty-sixth degree of east longitude ;
within those limits his Honor the Superintendent will exercise the
powers of a Lieutenant Governor, and all Officers of the Government
and others are hereby required to render him obedience and
respect accordingly.

His Excellency cannot allow Captain Lonsdale to be relieved
from the duties with which he has been hitherto charged, as the
chief organ of the Government at Port Phillip, without availing
himself of the opportunity to express publicly the sense he entertains
of the ability, zeal, and success with which that Officer has performed

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

101

those duties, and labored to develope the resources of that important
Settlement, under the peculiar difficulties attending its first form-
ation and very rapid progress.

The services of Captain Lonsdale, however, will still be retained
to the Government and the Public in his capacity of Police Magis-
trate for the Town and District of Melbourne.

By His Excellency’s Command,

E. DEAS THOMSON.

[Note: For the history of Port Phillip from 1838, and especially its demand
for separation from New South Wales, see Section 7, E of this volume. For other
information see E. Finn: Chronicles of Early Melbourne.

For the settlement at Port Phillip, 1803-4, see H.R.A. Ill, 1, pp. 1-123.
For the settlement at Western Port, 1826-7, see H.R.A. Ill, 5, pp. 827-60.
For the settlements in the Northern Territory, see H.R.A. Ill, 5, pp. 737-824,
and 6, pp. 643-845.]

SOURCES USED FOR SECTION 2

1. New South Wales, Norfolk Island, Van Diemen’s Land
AND Moreton Bay

A* Official Sources

1. Historical Records of Australia, Series I, III and IV.

2. Historical Records of New South Wales.

3. Journals of the House of Commons.

4. Parliamentary History.

5. Parliamentary Register.

6. Statutes at Large.

B. Other Primary Sources

1. Anonymous: History of New Holland, from its first discovery
in I Si 6 to the present time, etc. 1787.

2. Barrington, George (?): History of New South Wales,
including Botany Bay, etc. 1802. (Attributed to Barrington,
but almost certainly not his work.)

3. Bonwick’s Transcripts. (Available in Mitchell Library,
Sydney, New South Wales.

4. Collins, David: An Account of the English Colony in New
South Wales. 1798.

5. Colquhoun, Patrick: A Treatise on the Police of the Metro-
polis. (6th ed., 1800.)

6. Dalrymple, Alexander: A Serious Admonition to the
Publick on an intended Thief Colony at Botany Bay, etc.
Limited reprint, including memoir, by George
Mackaness, 1943.

7. Eden, F. M.: The State of the Poor: or, art History of the
Labouring Classes in England etc, 3 vols. 1797.

102 SELECT Documents in Australian history

8 . Gardens tone, F. W. : Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, etc, 1792.

9. Hunter, John: An Historical Journal of the Transactions at
Port Jackson and Norfolk Island, etc, 1793.

10. Johnson, Richard: An Address to the inhabitants of the
Colonies established in New South Wales and Norfolk Islands
1794.

11. New South Wales Despatches, quoted by J. Holland
Rose: William Pitt and the National Revival. 1912.

12. Phillip, Arthur: Extracts of Letters from Arthur Phillip,
Esq,, etc. 1791.

13. Portlock, W. H. (Editor): Voyages and Travels to all the
Various Parts of the World, etc. 1 794.

14. Stockdale, John (Editor) : The Voyage of Governor Phillip
to Botany Bay, etc, 1790,

15. Tench, Watkin: A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay,
etc. 1789.

16. Tench, Watkin: A Complete Account of the Settlement at
Port Jackson, in New South Wales, etc. 1793.

17. White, ]Qhxi\ Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, 1790.

2. Swan River

A, Official Sources

1. Historical Records of Australia, Series III, Vol. 6.

2. Parliamentary Papers, 1838, XL, 687.

B. Other Primary Sources

1. Irwin, F. G.: The State and Position of Western Australia.
1835.

2. Moore, G. F. : Diary of Ten Tears' Eventful Life of an
Early Settler in Western Australia. 1840.

3. Ogle, N. : The Colony of Western Australia: a manual for
emigrants to that settlement or its dependencies, 1839.

3. Port Phillip

A* Official Sources

1. Historical Records of Australia, Series I, Vol. 18.

2. New South Wales Government Gazette, 1836-8.

3. Sydney Gazette, 1836-8.

B, Other Primary Sources

1. Papers of the Port Phillip Association. (MSS. in
Melbourne Public Library.)

2. Bride, T. F. (Editor): Letters from Victorian Pioneers. 1898.

3. Shillinglaw, J. J.: Historical Records of Port Phillip: the
first annals of the Colony of Victoria. 1879.

4. Victorian Pamphlets. Vol. CXXVII.

Section 3

TRANSPORTATION

The documents in this section are intended to illustrate the
life of the convict from the time he was sentenced to trans-
portation until he finally left the Australian colonies or died
after the expiration of the sentence. Contemporaries differ in
their description of convict life: some paint it as a hell on earth,
and some, while they do not make it a heaven, at least make
it a more pleasant life than the one they left behind in Great
Britain. Where possible, documents have been chosen to
illustrate both points of view. There was also a gradual
improvement in the life of the convicts from the rude, harsh
life of the 'Tirst Fleeters” until the middle of the nineteenth
century. This improvement is illustrated by quoting typical
experiences from both periods. The section begins with a
chronological summary of the main events.

A. British Law on Trans-
portation.

B. The Hulhs.

C. The Journey.

D. Disembarking the
Convicts.

E. Female Convicts.

F. Convicts in Govern-
ment Service.

G. The Assignment
System.

H. Tickets of Leave.

I. The Emancipist and
the Expiree.

J. The Punishment of
Convicts.

K. Transportation as a
Punishment and a
Cause of Keformation.

L. Abolition of Trans-
portation to New
South Wales in 1840.

M. Experiments in Penal
Reform.

N. Arguments for and
against Transporta-
tion to Eastern Aus-
tralia.

O. The Effect of Trans-
portation on Austra-
lian Society.

TRANSPORTATION: 1776-1868

1776. The Hulks Act, 16 Geo. Ill, c. 43.

1784. Act 24 Geo. Ill, c. 56, to renew transportation.

104 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

1786. Orders in Council naming New South Wales as the new
penal colony.

1834. Act 4 & 5 Will. IV, c. 95, forbidding admission of convicts
to South Australia.

1840, Abolition of transportation to New South Wales.

1842-9. British Government uses new methods of transportation.
1850. Introduction of transportation to Western Australia.

1852. Abolition of transportation to the eastern colonies.

1858. Cessation of transportation to Western Australia.

A. British Law on Transportation

1. A Transportation Statute, 1717,

[Statutes at Large^ Vol. V.)

[Note: For an account of statute law on transportation see the “Discourse
on Banishment” published as a preface to W. Eden(?): The History of New South
W ales ^ from its first discovery in 1616 to the present time (1787). For a comment on
the law on transportation see E. O’Brien: The Foundation of Australia^ Pt. II, Ch. 1.
For transportation to North America see A. E. vSmith: Colonists in Bondage: White
Servitude and Convict Labour in America, 1601-1776.1

An Act for the further preventing Robbery, Burglary, and other
Felonies, and for the more effectual Transportation of Felons,
and unlawful Exporters of Wool ; and for declaring the Law
upon some Points relating to Pirates. 4 Geo. I, c. 11. (1717.)

Whereas it is found by Experience, That the Punishments inflicted
by the Laws now in Force against the Offences of Robbery, Larceny
and other felonious Taking and Stealing of Money and Goods,
have not proved effectual to deter wicked and evil-disposed
Persons from being guilty of the said Crimes; And whereas many
Offenders to whom Royal Mercy hath been extended, upon
Condition of transporting themselves to the West-Indies, have
often neglected to perform the said Condition, but returned to their
former Wickedness, and been at last for new Crimes brought to a
shameful and ignominious Death: And whereas in many of his
Majesty’s Colonies and Plantations in America, there is great Want
of Servants, who by their Labour and Industry might be the Means
of improving and making the said Colonies and Plantations more
useful to this Nation: Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual
and Temporal, and the Commons, in this present Parliament
assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That where any
Person or Persons have been convicted of any Offence within the
Benefit of Cler^, before the twentieth Day of January one thousand
cpvm hundred and seventeen^ and are liable to be whipt or burnt in

TRANSPORTATION

105

the Hand, or have been ordered to any Workhouse, anc^who shall
be therein on the said twentieth Day January; as also where any
Person or Persons shall be hereafter convicted of Grand or Petit
Larceny, or any felonious Stealing or Taking of Money *or Goods
and Chattels, either from the Person, or the House of any other, or
in any other manner, and who by the Law shall be entitled to the
Benefit of Clergy, and liable only to the Penalties of Burning in the
Hand or Whipping, (except Persons convicted for receiving or
buying stolen Goods, knowing them to be stolen) it shall and may be
lawful for the Court before whom they were convicted, or a*^iy
Court held at the same Place with the like Authority, if they think
fit, instead, of ordering any such Offenders to be burnt in the Hand
or whipt, to order and direct, That such Offenders, as also such
Offenders in any Workhouse, as aforesaid, shall be sent as soon as
conveniently may be, to some of his Majesty’s Colonies and Plant-
ations in America for the Space of seven Years; and that Court before
whom they were convicted, or any subsequent Court held at the same
Place, with like Authority as the former, shall have Power to convey,
transfer and make over such Offenders by Order of Court, to the
Use of any Person or Persons who shall contract for the Performance
of such Transportation, to him or them, and his and their Assigns,
for such Term of seven Years; and where any Persons have been
convicted, or do now stand attainted of any Offences whatsoever,
for which Death by Law ought to be inflicted, or where any Offend-
ers shall hereafter be convicted of any Crimes whatsoever, for which
they are by Law to be excluded the Benefit of Clergy, and his
Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, shall be graciously pleased to
extend Royal Mercy to any such Offenders, upon the Condition
of Transportation to any Part of America^ and such Intention of
Mercy be signified by one of his Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of
State, It shall and may be lawful to and for any Court having proper
Authority, to allow such Offenders the Benefit of a Pardon under the
Great Seal, and to order and direct the like Transfer and
Conveyance to any Person or Persons (who will contract for the
Performance of such Transportation) and to his and their Assigns,
of any such before-mentioned Offenders, as also of any Person or
Persons convicted of receiving or buying stolen Goods, knowing
them to be stolen, for the Term of fourteen Years, in case such
Condition of Transportation be general, or else for such other
Term or Terms as shall be made Part of such Condition, if any
particular Time be specified by his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors,
as aforesaid ; and such Person or Persons so contracting, as aforesaid,
his or their Assigns, by virtue of such Order of Transfer, as aforesaid,
shall have a Property and Interest in the Service of such Offenders
for such Terms of Years.

106 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

2. Some tke Offences for which People could be Sentenced
to Transportation. 1760-90 c.

(P. Colqu^houn: A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis^ pp.^ 440-1.)

CRIMES denominated Single Felonies; punishable by Transport-
ation, Whipping, imprisonment, the Pillory, and Hard Labour in Houses of
Correction, according to the Nature of the offence.

The principal of which are the following :

Grand Larceny, which comprehends every species of Theft above
^he value of One Shilling, not otherwise distinguished
Receiving or buying Stolen Goods, Jewels and Plate . . .

Ripping and stealing Lead, Iron, Copper, &c. or buying or receiving,
Stealing (or receiving when stolen) Ore from Black Lead Mines
Stealing from Furnished Lodgings
Setting fire to Underwood

Stealing Letters, or destroying a Letter or Packet, advancing the
Postage, and secreting the Money
Embezzling Naval Stores, in certain cases . . .

Petty Larcenies, or Thefts under One Shilling
Assaulting with an intent to Rob

Aliens returning after being ordered out of the kingdom
Stealing Fish from a Pond or River — Fishing in inclosed Ponds,
and buying stolen Fish

Stealing Roots, Trees, or Plants, of the value of 5s. or destroying
Stealing Children with their apparel [them

Bigamy, or Marrying more Wives or Husbands than one (now
punishable with transportation)

Assaulting and Cutting, or Burning Clothes
Counterfeiting the Copper Coin, &c. . . .

Marriage, solemnizing clandestinely

Manslaughter, or killing another without Malice, &c. . . *

Gutting or Stealing Timber Trees, &c, &c. &c.

Stealing a Shroud out of a Grave

Watermen carrying too many passengers in the Thames, if any
drowned

B. The Hulks

3. An Extract from the Hulks Act. 1776.

{Statutes at Large, VoL XI L)

An Act to authorise, for a limited Time, the Punishment by
Hard Labour of Offenders who, for certain crimes, are or shall
become liable to be transported to any of his Majesty’s Colonies
and Plantations. 16 Geo. Ill, c. 43. (1776.)

Whereas the Transportation of Convicts to his Majesty’s Colonies

TRANSPORTATION

iu7

and Plantations in America^ now in Use within that Part of Great
Britain called England, by virtue of the several Statutes authorising
such Transportation, is found to be attended with various
Inconveniences, particularly by depriving this Kingdom *of many
subjects whose Labour might be useful to the Community, and who,
by proper Care and Correction, might be reclaimed from their evil
Courses : And whereas, until some other more effectual Provisions,
in the Place of Transportation to his Majesty’s Colonies and
Plantations in America, can be framed, such Convicts, being Alales,
might be employed with Benefit to the Public in raising Sand, Sf^il
and Gravel from, and cleansing the River Thames; or being Males
unfit for so severe a Labour, or being Females, might be kept to hard
Labour of another kind within England; be it therefore enacted by
the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and
Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in
this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the
same. That, from and after the passing of this Act, wLere any iMale
Person shall, at any Session of Oyer and Terminer, or Gaol Delivery,
or at any Quarter or other General Session of the Peace for any
County, Riding, Division, City, Liberty, Borough, Towm, or Place
within that Part of Great Britain called England, be lawTully convicted
of Grand or Petit Larceny, or any other Crime for which he shall
be liable by Law to a Sentence of Transportation to any of his
Majesty’s Colonies or Plantations in America, it shall and may be
lawful for the Court before whom any such Person shall be so
convicted, or any Court held for the same Place wdth like Authority,
if such Court shall think fit, in the Place of such Punishment by
Transportation, to order and adjudge that such Person shall be
punished by being kept to Hard Labour in the raising of Sand,
Soil, and Gravel from, and cleansing the River Thames, or any
other Service for the Benefit of the Navigation of the said River,
under the Management and Direction of an Overseer or Overseers,
to be appointed by the Justices of the Peace, for the County of
Middlesex, at their Quarter or other General Sessions of the Peace,
for the same Term of Years as the Transportation for the said
Offence might by Law have been adjudged, or for such shorter
Term as such Court shall think fit to order and adjudge; provided
that the same shall in no Case be less than three Years, or more
than ten Years.

4. Conditions on Board the Hulks. 1778.

(Ev. of John Howard to Committee on the Hulks. Abstract from
C.J., 15 April 1778. Bonwick Transcripts, Box 56.)

He visited Vessels twice; 1776 sickly looks of men showed mis-
management. Law biscuits given out, mouldy and green on both

108 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
e

sides — no bedding, lay upon boards — bad smell. No Divine Service
or religious books, but men quite orderly.

1778. Convicts looked better. Apothecary attended every other day.
Sick well* cared for. . . . Bread and Meat good. Some working as
carpenters, some blacksmiths. Do about one third of hired labourers
— chains hinder them, not properly overlooked. Had visited many
Houses of Correction, few strong enough to confine convicts. No
ventilation in Justitia, and ship scraped, not washed.

5./Life of Convicts on the Hnlks* 1820-30 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Secondary Punishments, pp. 12-14.
P.P. 1831-2, VII, 547.)

The great principles which Your Committee have endeavoured
to establish, are the necessity of a separation of criminals, and of a
severity of punishment sufficient to make it an object of terror to
the evil-doer. In both these respects, the system of management
in the Hulks is not only necessarily deficient, it is actually opposed
to them. All that has been stated of the miserable effects of the
association of criminals in the prisons on shore, the profaneness,
the vice, the demoralisation that are its inevitable consequences,
applies in its fullest extent in the case now under consideration. The
average number of prisoners usually confined on board a convict
ship, is from 80 to 800. The ships are divided into wards, each
containing from 12 to 30 persons; in these they are confined when
not at labour in the dock-yard, and the evil consequences of such
associations may easily be conceived, even were the strictest
discipline enforced. But Your Committee are informed, that so far
is that from being the case, the convicts, after being shut up for the
night, are allowed to have lights between decks, in some ships as
late as ten o’clock; that, although against the rules of the establish-
ment, they are permitted the use of musical instruments; that
flash songs, dancing, fighting and gaming take place; that the old
offenders are in the habit of robbing the new comers; that news-
papers and improper books are clandestinely introduced; that a
communication is frequently kept up with their old associates on
shore; and that occasionally spirits are introduced on board. It is
true that the greater part of these practices is against the rules of
the establishment; but their existence in defiance of those rules,
shows an inherent defect in the system. But the indulgence of
purchasing tea, bread, tobacco, &c. is allowed, the latter with a
view to the health of the prisoners; the convicts are also permitted
to receive visits from their friends, and during the time they remain,
are excused working; and it is stated, that instances are frequent
of their exemption from labour being extended to several days at the
request of their friends. It is obvious that such communication

TRANSPORTATION

109

must have the worst effect; it not only affords an indulgence to
which no person in the situation of a convict is entitled, but it allows
the most dangerous and improper intercourse to be kept* up with
his old companions, from whom it is most important to disconnect
him. The most assiduous attention on the part of the ministers of
religion, would be insufficient to stem the torrent of corruption
flowing from these various and abundant sources; but, unless the
evidence of three witnesses is utterly unworthy of belief, it appears
that but little attention is paid to the promotion of religious feelings,
or to the improvement of the morals of the convicts, and that,
except for a short time on Sunday morning, the Chaplains have no
communication whatever with them, . . .

This short sketch of the manner in which a criminal sentenced to
transportation for crimes to which the law affixes the penalty of
death, passes his time, which pourtrays him well fed, well clothed,
indulging in riotous enjoyment by night, with moderate labour by
day, will prepare the House for readily believing, that confinement
on board the Hulks fails to excite a proper feeling of terror in the
minds of those who are likely to come under its operation. The
Minutes of Evidence furnish ample testimony, that the Hulks are
not dreaded; “that the life in them is considered a pretty jolly
life;” and that if a criminal can conquer the sense of shame, which
such degradation is calculated to excite, he is in a better situation
than a large portion of the working classes, who have nothing but
their daily labour to depend on for a subsistence. Indeed, so far is
this punishment from operating as a preventive to crime, that
Your Committee have evidence, that the situation of a convict
has been regarded with envy by the free labourers who see him at
his daily work; and the words of Mr. Lang, the master shipwright
of Woolwich Dock-yard, under whose superintendence all the
convicts in that yard are placed, “many labourers would be glad
to change places with him, and would be much better off than they
were before”.

6, Selection for Transportation from the Hulks. 1800-12 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, p. 9. P.P. 1812,
II, 341.)

When the hulks are full up to their establishment, and the
convicted offenders in the different counties are beginning to
accumulate, a vessel is taken up for the purpose of conveying a part
of them to New South Wales. A selection is in the first instance made
of all the male convicts under the age of 50, who are sentenced to
transportation for life and for 14 years; and the number is filled
up with such from among those sentenced to transportation for 7
years, as are the most unruly in the hulks, or are convicted of the

ilO SELECT ifOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

most atrocious crimes; with respect to female convicts^ it has been
customary to send, without exception, all whose state of health
will admit of it, and whose age does not exceed 45 years. ^

G. The Journey
7. A Grim Journey. 1790.

(Extract from a letter published in H.R.JSf.S. IT., VoL I, Pt. 2, p. 367.)

^Note: Compare this experience with the success of the First Fleet. See the
comment of D. Collins on this in Section 2, C, 15 of this volume.]

Would I could draw an eternal shade over the remembrance of
this miserable part of our voyage — miserable, not so much in
itself, as rendered so by the villany, oppression, and shameful
peculation of the masters of two of the transports. The bark I was
on board of was, indeed, unfit, from her make and size, to be sent
so great a distance ; if it blew but the most trifling gale she was lost
in the waters, of which she shipped so much; that, from the Cape,
the unhappy wretches, the convicts, were considerably above their
waists in water, and the men of my company, whose berths were
not so far forward, were nearly up to the middles. In this situation
they were obliged, for the safety of the ship, to be pen’d down; but
when the gales abated no means were used to purify the air by
fumigations, no vinegar was applied to rectify the nauseous steams
issuing from their miserable dungeon. Humanity shudders to think
that of nine hundred male convicts embarked in this fleet, three
hundred and seventy are already dead, and four hundred and fifty
are landed sick and so emaciated and helpless that very few, if
any of them, can be saved by care or medicine, so that the sooner
it pleases God to remove them the better it will be for this colony.

. . . The irons used upon these unhappy wretches were barbarous.
The contractors had been in the Guinea trade, and had put on
board the same shackles used by them in that trade, which are
made with a short bolt, instead of chains that drop between the legs
and fasten with a bandage about the waist, like those at the different
gaols; these bolts were not more than three-quarters of a foot in
length, so that they could not extend either leg from the other more
than an inch or two at most; thus fettered, it was impossible for them
to move but at the risk of both their legs being broken. Inactivity
at sea is a sure bane, as it invites the scurvy equal to, if not more
than, salt provisions; to this they were consigned, as well as a
miserable pittance of provisions, altho’ the allowance by Govern-
ment is ample ; even when attacked by disease their situations were
not altered, neither had they any comforts administered. The
slave trade is merciful compared with what I have seen in this fleet ;
m that it is the interests of the masters to preserve the healths and

TRANSPORTATION

lives of their captives, they having a joint benefit with the owners;
in this, the more they can withhold from the unhappy ^wretches
the more provisions they have to dispose of at a foreign market,
and the earlier in the voyage they die the longer they can draw the
deceased’s allowance to themselves; for I fear few of them are honest
enough to make a just return of the dates of their deaths to their
employers. It, therefore, highly concerns Government to lodge,
in future, a controlling power in each ship over these low-lifed,
barbarous masters, to keep them honest, instead of giving it to oTie
man (an agent) who can only see what is going forward in his ship.

. . . My feelings never have been so wounded as in this voyage, so
much so, that I never shall recover my accustomed vivacity and
spirits; and had I been empowered, it would have been the most
grateful task in my life to have prevented so many of my fellow-
creatures so much misery and death.

8. OfEcials Report Improvements. 1812 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, pp. 10-11. P.P.
1812, II, 341.)

The evidence of Mr. McLeay distinctly and satisfactorily explains
the manner in which they are transported. An order is received from
the Treasury at the Transport Office, to take up vessels for New
South Wales. They are advertised for, and the lowest tender accept-
ed. Clothing and provisions for the support of the convicts during
the voyage, andl nine months afterwards, are sent from the
Victualling Office, and medicines are furnished from the Apothe-
caries Hall. An account of the stores allowed for 100 male or female
convicts, is to be found in the Appendix. The owner of the vessel
provides a surgeon, who undergoes an examination at Surgeon’s
Hall and the Transport Office. He is instructed to keep a diary
not only of the illness on board but of the number of convicts
admitted on deck ; of the scraping the decks, cleaning of berths, and
general treatment of the transports. The sick are to be visited twice
a day, the healthy once. He is ordered to take the greatest precaution
against infection, and to fumigate the clothes of those taken to the
hospital. He has not only power to use medicines, but also the stores,
if any sick be in want of greater nourishment. He is further
instructed to transmit to the Secretary of State, any observations
which may occur to him productive of improvement in the mode of
treatment, and he is paid a gratuity of 10s. 6d. for every convict
landed in New South Wales.

The instructions to the master are equally satisfactory. He is to be
particularly cautious to receive no diseased person on board during
the voyage; a proportion of the prisoners is daily .to be admitted
upon deck, and the berths of all cleaned and aired; and these things

112 SELECT IjOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

are to be^ noted in the log-book, which is afterwards submitted to
the Governor of New South Wales; and if the conduct of the master
appears to have been satisfactory, he receives a gratuity of ^50. If
the contrary should turn out to be the case, a power of mulcting him
is given by the contract, and he becomes liable to a prosecution.
The ration of provision is fixt, and appears to be amply sufficient for
the support of the men; about 200 men or women are generally
embarked on board one ship, with a guard of 30 men and an officer.
S^ch are the present regulations for the voyage; and however bad
the treatment of the convicts on board the vessels may formerly
have been, the present system appears to Your Committee to be
unobjectionable. The Witnesses speak of it in terms of high commen-
dation, particularly two of those who have been sent out as convicts.
Governor Macquarie, in his last dispatches, mentions the good
treatment of the prisoners on board the two transports last sent out;
and a still stronger proof of the improvement in the mode of convey-
ance is, that from the year 1795 to 1801, of 3,833 convicts embarked,
385 died on board the transports, being nearly one in ten; but since
1801, of 2,398 embarked, 52 only have died on the passage, being 1
in 46. The only further observation Your Committee have to make
on this part of the subject is, one of regret that no arrangement
whatever is made for the performance of Divine Service during the
six months voyage; that this, which is the heaviest part of their
punishment, is also the least likely to produce reformation.

9, Commissioner Bigge also gives a Favourable Report. 1822.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., p. 9.)

Mental suffering forms but a small part of the punishment of the
voyage. Instances have occurred in which it has both produced
disease and aggravated it; and this has unfortunately occurred in
cases where it would have been more desirable to have diminished
punishment than to have augmented it. The pressure of the voyage,
where it is felt at all, weighs most heavily upon those feelings that
are most respectable, and which are perhaps the last that the worst
men lose. Such instances are rare, and as the voyage is now
conducted, it produces no greater degree of bodily inconvenience to
ordinary men than many are exposed to who are not in a state of
punishment, and certainly it is not found to be productive of injury
to their constitutions. The uninterrupted association, however,
amongst the convicts, to which it gives rise, and the habitual
indolence that it encourages, are strong reasons for abridging its
continuance.

The experience of many years has now established the safety, as
well as ease, with which the voyage to New South Wales may be
Na shins have arrived in a disabled state in consequence

TRANSPORTATION

113

of disasters at sea, and none have occurred in that pa^t of the
voyage where they are naost to be apprehended, viz. in Bass’s Straits.

« *

10, A Convict Opinion on the Journey. 1819 c.

(Letter to E. F. Bromley, a ship’s surgeon. Report of Select Com-
mittee on State of Gaols, pp. 106-7. P.P. 1819, VII, 575.)
Honoured Sir,

With feelings of the most respectful nature, we beg you to accegt
our most heartfelt acknowledgments for the many comforts and
indulgences we have received from you during the passage from
England, and for which we are indebted to your kindness and
humanity.

Were it possible, honoured Sir, for us to show you in a more
striking manner the high sense we entertain for the many kindnesses
we have received, we should consider ourselves completely happy;
but as that, perhaps, may never occur, we now, with sentiments of
the highest esteem for your kindness, return you our most grateful
and sincere thanks; and remain.

Honoured Sir,

Your most obedient and very humble servants,

THE CONVICTS.

11. Conditions on Board Convicts Ships. 1825 c.

(P. Cunningham: Two Tears in New South Wales^ VoL II, pp. 212-4.)

Two rows of sleeping-berths, one above the other, extend on each
side 'of the between-decks of the convict-ship, each berth being six
feet square, and calculated to hold four convicts, every one thus
possessing eighteen inches space to sleep in, — and ample space tool
The hospital is in the fore-part of the ship, with a bulk-head across
separating it from the prison, having two doors with locks to keep
out intruders; — ^while a separate prison is built for the boys, to cut
off all intercourse between them and the men. Strong wooden
stanchions, thickly studded with nails, are fixed round the fore and
main hatchways, between decks, in each of which is a door with
three padlocks, to let the convicts out and in, and secure them at
night. The convicts by these means have no access to the hold
through the prison, a ladder being placed in each hatchway for
them to go up and down by, which is pulled on deck at night.
Scuttle-holes, to open and shut for the admission of air, are cut
along the ship’s sides; — a large stove and funnel placed between-
decks, for warmth and ventilation; swing stoves and charcoal put on
board, to carry about into the damp corners; — and in fact every-
thing that can be thought of provided to secure health and proper
comfort to the convicts during their voyage. Each is allowed a pair
of shoes, three shirts, two pair of trowsers, and other warm clothing

114 SELECT I>OGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

on his efnbarkation, besides a bed, pillow, and blanket — while
Bibles, Testaments, prayer-books, and psalters, are distributed
among the messes.

The rations are both good and abundant, three quarters of a
pound of biscuit being the daily allowance of bread, while each day
the convict sits down to dinner off either beef, pork, or plum-
pudding, having pea-soup four times a week, and a pot of gruel
every morning, with sugar or butter in it. Vinegar is issued to the
ncrsses weekly; and as soon as the ship has been three weeks at sea,
each man is served with one ounce of lime-juice and the same of
sugar daily, to guard against scurvy: while two gallons of good
Spanish red wine, and one hundred and forty gallons of water, are
put on board for issuing to each likewise — three to four gills of wine
weekly, and three quarts of water daily, being the general allowance.
The sick are in like manner provided with ail requisite medicines
and comforts, as well as with warm dresses, spare bedding, sheets,
and every description of hospital furniture.

The common diet of the convicts is certainly more than is requisite
to keep them in health, as they have no work to do; but it is not
more than is politic to allow them; because, if you stint them on the
voyage, you must keep them under greater restraint, and their
healths will suffer in consequence. Two delegates, chosen in rotation
from the several messes, daily see the provisions weighed out, and
justice done to the whole body in that particular.

12. Conditions on a Female Convict Vessel. 1819 c.

(Ev. of W. R. H. Brown to Select Committee on State of Gaols, p.99.
P.P. 1819, VII, 575.)

These women informed me, as well as others of their shipmates,
that they were subject to every insult from the master of the ship
and sailors; that the master stript several of them and publickly
whipped them; that one young woman, from ill treatment, threw
herself into the sea and perished; that the master beat one of the
women that lived with me with a rope with his own hands till she
was much bruised in her arms, breasts, and other parts of her body.
I am certain, from her general good conduct since she arrived, to
the present day, she could not have merited any cruelty from him.
They further stated, that they were almost famished for the want of
water. In addition to the insults they were subject to on board,
the youngest and handsomest of the women were selected from the
other convicts and sent on board, by order of the master, the king’s
ships who were at that time in the fleet, for the vilest purposes;
both of my servants were in the number> One of them when in bed
told me she received an order, sent by the captain, to come upon
deck, which order she was obliged to obey, when she was put into

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a boat with others and sent off to the king’s ships ; this \\%s not the
only time they were sent during their passage. They further informed
me, that, they were promised the sum of;^30, but none of u4iich they
received; and it was also said, that rope and canvas had been
given as the wages of iniquity. I have no doubt but these are facts,
so many bore testimony to them; near two hundred persons must
know of these females being sent on board the king’s ships. In the
convict ship itself, what -punishment can be equal to such shameful
crimes in the master of the vessel, who has them under his authorhi^^ ?
I shall forbear to mention the name of the ship, or master, from
motives of delicacy to those with whom he is connected, as the evils
are past and cannot be remedied now. From this single case the
committee will judge what insults, temptations, and privations the
female prisoners are liable to on their voyage.

D. Disembarking The Convicts

13. The Muster on the Deck of the Convict Ship. 1820 c.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., pp, 13-14.)

This muster is of a very detailed nature, and is taken by hlr. J. T.
Campbell on the quarter-deck of the vessel, in the presence of the
surgeon superintendent, the captain and ship’s company. Each
convict is asked his name, the time and place of his trial, his sentence,
native place, age, trade and occupation; and the answers are com-
pared and corrected (if necessary) by the description of the indents
and in the lists transmitted from the hulks. After ascertaining the
height of each convict by actual admeasurement, and registering
it in several columns, as well as the colour of the hair, eyes, the
complexion or any particular mark that may tend to establish the
identity of each convict, an inquiry is made respecting the treatment
that each has received during the passage; whether he has received
his full ration of provisions ; whether he has any complaint to make
against the captain, his officers and crew; and lastly, whether he has
any bodily ailment or infirmity. A further inquiry is made of the
surgeon, respecting the conduct of each convict during the passage,
and whether he has any bodily infirmity that may prevent him from
being actively employed.

The muster of 150 convicts conducted in this manner, occupies
the secretary from five to seven hours; and if the complaints are
numerous, it is protracted to the following day.

14. Tke Governor’s Inspection. 1820 c.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., pp. 14-15.)

When the muster has been completed on board the convict ships,
the governor appoints a day for their disembarkation. At an early

116 SELECT D/3GUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

hour on tfiat day the convicts are dressed in their new clothing,
and are marched into the yard of the gaol at Sydney, where they
are arranged in two lines for the inspection of the governor; they
are permitted to bring with them the bedding that they have used
on board the transport ship, and such articles of clothing and effects
as they may have brought with them.

The captain of the transport, the surgeon superintendent, the chief
engineer, and the superintendent of convicts, accompany the
goarsrnor in his inspection; and the superintendent, as he proceeds,
repeats aloud from a distribution list, previously prepared, the
destination that has been given to the several convicts, either by
the chief engineer for the use of government, or by the applications
of individuals signified to the magistrates of the different districts,
or to the superintendent himself In this part of the inspection,
the governor receives the report of the captain and superintendent
respecting the good or bad conduct of any individuals during the
passage, and promises to attend to their recommendations; he
rarely alters the destination of the convicts, made by the superin-
tendent, but he sometimes desires that particular descriptions of
men be assigned to individuals, whose applications more immediate-
ly occur to him. These orders are signified to the superintendent and
chief engineer; and when the governor has finished the inspection,
he addresses the convicts in an audible tone, commencing his
address with an inquiry, whether they have any complaints to
make, whether their treatment during the passage has been humane
and kind, and whether they have had their proper allowance of
provisions. If any complaint is signified, the name of the individual
is taken down, and the inquiry is referred to the police magistrates ;
but if the convicts are silent, or if they declare generally that they
are satisfied, the governor proceeds in his address. He expresses his
hope that the change which has been effected in their situation, will
lead to a change in their conduct; that they will become new men;
and he explicitly informs them that as no reference will be had to the
past, their future conduct in their respective situations will alone
entitle them to reward or indulgence.

15. Distribution of Females. 1820 c.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., p. 15.)

In the disembarkation and distribution of the female convicts, a
part only of these regulations is observed. The governor’s secretary
and the superintendent of the convicts, take the muster of the females
on board the ship ; the same inquiries are made as in the males ; but
the female convicts are rarely seen by the governor afterwards, and
they are allowed to land in their own dresses, and not in those
provided for them by the Navy Board, Such of them as are not

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assigned to individuals in Sydney, or permitted tc» join their
husbands, are sent by water to the factory at Paramatta.

16. Distribution at Hobart. 1820 c.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., p. 19.)

On the arrival of a convict ship at Hobart Town, as much
notice as possible is sent to the settlers, to enable them to attend at
the time of distribution, although the period between their arrival
and debarkation is generally very short. The same reservatiol^ for
mechanics is made for government, as there is at Sydney; but with
that exception the settlers are allowed to select such men as, upon
their own personal inquiry, will best suit them.

E. Female Convicts

17. Experiences of Female Convicts. 1800-10 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, p. 12. P.P. 1812,
II, 341.)

In the distribution of female convicts great abuses have formerly
prevailed; they were indiscriminately given to such of the inhab-
itants as demanded them, and were in general received rather as
prostitutes than as servants ; and so far from being induced to reform
themselves, the disgraceful manner in which they were disposed of,
operated as an encouragement to general depravity of manners.
Upon the arrival of Governor Bligh, two-thirds of the children
annually born within the Colony were illegitimate. Marriages have
latterly become more frequent, consequently prostitution is stated
to have been less prevalent ; and Governor Macquarie is directing
his endeavours, under order from the Government here, ‘To keep
the female convicts separate till they can properly be distributed
among the inhabitants, in such a manner as they may best derive
the advantages of industry and good character.” He further states
in his dispatch, dated April 30, 1810, that the situation of the Colony
requires that as many male convicts as possible should be sent
thither, the prosperity of the country depending on their numbers;
whilst, on the contrary, female convicts are as great a drawback as
the others are beneficial. To this observation Your Committee feel
they cannot accede : they are aware that the women sent out are of
the most abandoned description, and that in many instances they
are likely to whet and to encourage the vices of the men, whilst
but a small proportion will make any step towards reformation;
but yet, with all their vices, such women as these were the mothers
of a great part of the inhabitants now existing in the Colony, and
from this stock only can a reasonable hope be held out of rapid
increase to the population; upon which increase, here as in all

118 SELECT 'DOpUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

infant colories, its growing prosperity in great measure depends.
Let it be remembered too, how much misery and vice are likely to
prevail in a society in which the women bear no proportion to the
men; in the Colony at present, the number of men compared to that
of women is as 2 to 1 ; to this, in great measure, the prevalence of
prostitution is reasonably to be attributed ; but increase that propor-
tion, and the temptation to abandoned vices will also be increased,
and the hopes of establishing feelings of decency and morality
amc^gst the lower classes will be still farther removed.

18* Life of the Female Convicts at the Parramatta Factory.

1820 c.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., pp. 69-70.)

On their arrival there, they are allowed to remain in a wooden
building that is near the factory; and if they have succeeded in
bringing their bedding from the ships, they are permitted to
deposit it there, or in the room in which the female prisoners are
confined for punishment. The first of these apartments is in the
upper floor of a house that was built for the reception of pregnant
females. It contains another apartment, on the ground floor, that
is occupied by the men employed in the factory. It is not surrounded
by any wall or paling; and the upper room or garret has only one
window, and an easy communication with the room below. No
accommodation is afforded for cooking provisions in this building;
nor does there exist either inducement to the female convicts to
remain in it, or the means of preventing their escape. The greater
portion, therefore, betake themselves to the lodgings in the town of
Paramatta, where they cohabit with the male convicts in the employ
of government, or with any persons who will receive them. Their
employment in the factory consists of picking, spinning and carding
wool. They are tasked to perform a certain quantity in the day, and
when their task is finished, which is generally at one o’clock, they
are allowed to return to their lodgings. Their weekly ration consists
of four pounds ten ounces of flour, and the same quantity of meat, or
two pounds of pork; and the same ration is issued to the females
who are confined for punishment. The children who accompany
their mothers to Paramatta are maintained by government, and
receive one half of the ration last described. As there is a general
objection amongst the settlers, to receive into their families female
convicts who are accompanied by children, it is their lot to remain
longer in Paramatta, and at the factory, than others. The factory
itself consists of one long room that is immediately above the gaol,
haying two windows in front that look into the gaol yard, one in the
end of the building, and two windows looking into a yard that is
immediately behind. The dimensions of the room are 60 feet by 20;

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and at one end are store-rooms, where the wool, yarn and cloth are
kept. There is one fire-place, at which all the provisions are cooked.
The vyomen have no other beds than those they can ma-ke from the
wool in its dirty state; and they sleep upon it at night, and in the
midst of their spinning wheels and work. No attempt has been made
to preserve cleanliness in this room, as the boards had shrunk so
much, that when they were washed, the water fell through them
into the prison rooms below. The walls of the room and the roof
bore equal marks of neglect; and the drains in the yard were m the
highest degree offensive. , . .

The only punishment that it inflicted was that of moral and
physical degradation, beyond the low state of existence from which
many of them had previously been taken; and reducing those who
had l3een in better situations, nearly to the same level. The women
who had become most profligate and hardened by habit, were
associated in their daily tasks with those who had very lately arrived,
to whom the customs and practices of the colony were yet unknown,
and who might have escaped the consequences of such pernicious
lessons, if a little care and a small portion of expense had been spared
in providing them with a separate apartment during the hours of
labour. As a place of employment, the factory at Paramatta was
not only very defective, but was prejudicial. The insufficient
accommodation that it afforded to those females who might be well
disposed, presented an early incitement, if not an excuse, for their
resorting to indiscriminate prostitution; and on the evening of their
arrival at Paramatta, those who were not deploring their state of
abandonment and distress were traversing the streets, in search of
the guilty means of future support. The state in which the place
itself was kept, and the state of disgusting filth in which I found it,
both on an early visit after my arrival, and on one preceding my
departure; the disordered, unruly and licentious appearance of the
women; manifested the little degree of control in which the female
convicts were kept, and the little attention that was paid to anything
beyond the mere performance of a certain portion of labour.

19, Treatment of Female Convicts in Van Diemen’s Land,
1830-50 c,

(Rev. H. P. Fry: A System of Penal Discipline^ p. 192.)

The treatment of the women has long been deemed by the
colonists a violation of reason and justice, in direct opposition to
the interests of the community. The depot into which they are
received, when discharged from their services, is a scene of feasting,
complete idleness and vicious indulgence. The women are occasion-
ally let into the town, and have free communication with their
associates. When they bring forth illegitimate children they are

120 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

received intcJ’ a nursery, where they live on the same abundant fare,
and with nothing to do but nurse their infants ; as soon as the children
are of proper age, they are sent to the Orphan School which should
be called the school for illegitimate 'children of the convicts, and the
mothers are dismissed to repeat the same expensive course
of conduct.

It is perfectly notorious and indubitable, that the common
practise of the convict women is to get into service, in order to
obtain money by theft or prostitution, and return to the depot to
spend it with their associates. The natural consequence is, that they
are utterly insubordinate and lead most flagitious lives, refusing to
stop in any place where a restraint is put on their vices, plainly
telling their masters that they infinitely prefer the depot — the
scene of jollity and every evil communication.

F. Convicts in Government Service

20. A Description of Their Life in the Early Period. 1800-10 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, p. 11. P.P. 1812,
II, 341.) •

The convicts in the service of Government, are divided into
gangs, — every gang has an overseer, and every two or three gangs
a superintendent; these are frequently chosen from amongst those
convicts who best conduct themselves. They work from six in the
morning till three in the afternoon, and the remainder of the day is
allowed to them, to be spent either in amusement or profitable
labour for themselves. They are clothed, fed, and for the
most part lodged by the Government; and though in the early
periods of the Colony, inconvenience and distress may- have arisen
from the irregularity of supply from this Country, latterly the food
and clothing have been good, and, generally speaking, in sufficient
abundance. Should the convicts misconduct themselves at their
work, the superintendents have no power of inflicting punishment,
but are for that purpose obliged to take them before a magistrate,
the sitting magistrate of the week at Sydney, may order a punish-
ment of 25 lashes; a regular Bench, which consists, at least, of three,
may order as many as 300; and in distant parts of the colony, a
single magistrate has the same power with the Bench at Sydney;
but a heavy punishment is not executed without the previous
approbation of the Governor. Another mode of correction, and that
which Your Committee would recommend to be preferred, in as
many cases as possible, is to sentence the culprit to work for a certain
number of days in the gaol gang; he is here obliged to labour at
some public work in irons, from six in the morning to six at night,
and no hours are alllowed to him for profit or amusement.

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21. A Description of their Life in the Later Perio^d. 1830-7 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, pp. x-xiii. P.P.
1837-8, XXII, 669.)

' The convicts under the immediate charge of the Government
in the Australian Colonies, may be divided into those ^vho are
retained in the service of the Government merely because they are
required as labourers, those who are returned by their masters as
unfit for service, those who having suffered for some o^ence
committed in the colony, are retained for a certain period of
probation in the employment of the Government, and those who,
for crimes committed in the colonies, are worked on the roads
generally in irons, or are sent to the penal settlements.

To commence with a description of the first class of convicts,
those who are retained in the service of the Government, not as an
additional punishment. On the arrival of a convict vessel in the
penal colonies of Australia, an application is made to the assignment
commissioner from the proper authorities for the number of the
convicts who are required for the service of the Government. These
convicts are selected without reference to their past conduct, except
that prisoners who are described to be of very depraved character
are not usually assigned to settlers, and remain under the charge
of the Government; in some few cases directions to this effect are
sent out from England. In Van Diemen’s Land all mechanics are
retained in the service of the Government, and placed either in the
engineer department or in the loan-gang; a few convicts likewise
are selected out of every ship for the police. In the year 1835, out of
14,903 convicts in Van Diemen’s Land there were in the road
department, 1,687; engineer ditto, 516; miscellaneous, including
marine survey, &c., 716; constables and field-police, 338; total,
3,257. There are no returns of a similar description with regard to
New South Wales. It appears, however, that the number of convicts
retained (not as punishment) on the public works in the latter
colony, has of late years considerably decreased ; and most of those
works are now performed by contract.

Convicts in the employment of Government are generally worse
off than those assigned as servants; they are employed chiefly on
the public works of the colony; some of them are, however, in
situations of comparative ease, such as clerks, messengers, constables
in the police and so forth, in which services (Sir George Arthur says)
it is a necessary evil to employ convicts. That it must be an enormous
evil to employ convicts, or persons that have been convicts, in the
police, especially in such communities as New South Wales and
Van Diemen’s Land, seems to Your Committee to be a self-evident
proposition. Many of the convicts so employed aj^pear to have been
of the worst possible character; willing to take bribes; conniving at

122 SELECT DOl^UMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

the offences of the convict population; when employed as scourgers,
defeating the sentence of the law; sometimes bringing false accus-
ations against innocent persons, other times screening the' guilty
from justice; committing outrages on female prisoners committed
to their charge; and, in short, frequently defeating all the efforts
of the Government to prevent crime. In the present state of Van
Diemen’s Land, Sir George Arthur thought it impossible to obtain
a po^ce of free emigrants : some three or four years ago he said that
he took into the police a number of Chelsea pensioners and of free
emigrants, but they proved worse than the convicts.

Large parties of convicts, called road parties, are employed in
making roads in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land;
these parties consist mostly of convicts, who have been returned to
Government by their masters as being unfit for service, and of
convicts who, having been convicted of some offence in the colony,
have been sent, on the expiration of their sentence, to work for a
certain period on the roads before they were re-assigned. . . .
Composed entirely of criminals, some of them of the very worst
character (all of them ultimately degraded and demoralised by
associating together), these parties were dispersed over a wide
extent of country, under a most incomplete and inefficient system of
superintendence, with overseers most of whom had been convicts,
and in many cases with convicts for the deputy overseers, to whose
sole charge the road-parties were sometimes left for many days.
Prisoners in the road-parties were sometimes in league with the
convict servants of the neighbouring settlers, upon whose property
they committed every description of depradation, the fruits of
which were consumed in intoxication and other debauchery. The
condition of convicts in the road-parties on the whole appears to be
a more disagreeable one than that of assigned servants; the former
are subject to a greater degree of restraint than assigned convicts.
The nature of the work of convicts in road-parties, particularly
that of breaking stones under a hot sun, was irksome, though the
quantity of work which they performed was very slight. Neverthe-
less, the example of these parties had so demoralizing an effect upon
convicts in private establishments, that an idle and worthless
convict often preferred being in a road-party; and convicts, who
disliked the masters to whom they were assigned, sometimes
endeavoured to get themselves sent to a road-party, in hopes that,
after the expiration of their punishment, they might be assigned to a
better situation. Road-parties out of irons have been nearly dis-
continued in New South Wales; and the few, which have been
kept up since January 1837, are placed under such regulations, as
it is hoped will 4iniinish, to a certain extent, some of the above-
4.: — oKnc/:.*! M;^nv nersons connected with that colony

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consider that, in its present state, the road-parties are a necessary
evil because, in their opinion, it would be impossible to obtain a
sufficient supply of free labour to repair the roads, and free labourers
would consider themselves degraded by an occupation, that had
been a punishment for convicts. Moreover, free labourers would
not submit to the same degree of superintendence and discipline
as convicts; and it is said they would probably, therefore, commit
outrages as great, if not greater, than those committed by convicts.
General Bourke likewise observed, ''that great as the complaint! are
which are made by a certain portion of the colonists on account of
the crimes committed by the road-parties, still greater is the demand
for good roads; and if those parties were broken up, they would
probably be regretted in the colony”.

In Van Diemen’s Land the employment of convicts out of chains
on the roads has not occasioned evils to the same extent as in New
South Wales. This result is partly to be attributed to the better
system of management which is in force in that colony, and partly
to the nature of the general system of government which has been
pursued in Van Diemen’s Land, which, aided by the limited extent
of the island, renders it easier for the Government to enforce its
regulations, to preserve discipline, and to prevent escape from the
road-parties, than in the other penal colony. For New South Wales is
not only a penal, but a large and flourishing free colony. Though
the free inhabitants are subjected, on account of dwelling there, to
greater restraints than if they were residing in the mother country,
and are obliged to submit to laws "which, (according to Sir R.
Bourke) nothing but^ the peculiar case of the colony could render
tolerable to Englishnien,” yet they claim, and on the whole, enjoy
most of the privileges of free men in this country. Van Diemen’s
Land, on the contrary, was looked upon by Sir George Arthur as
intended to be a vast gaol or penitentiary; and he contended that
the free settlers who had become its willing inmates, must abide
cheerfully by the rules and customs of the prison. He had been long
assiduously and successfully endeavouring to render transportation
a painful punishment, and to make the convict feel his position to
be a disagreeable and degraded one. In proportion to the success
of his efforts, the desire of the convict to escape has increased; and
consequently, it has been necessary to increase the severity of the
police regulations, which affect all classes; and the settlers are
subjected to restraints, and to a surveillance which would not be
endured in a free settlement. In the 39th section of the Quarter
Sessions Act, "Any person who shall in any manner shelter,
protect or employ any absconded offender whatever, or shall
provide any such offender with lodging, clothes^ tobacco, money,
wine or any spirituous liquor (whether knowing or suspecting him

124 SELECT DCX3UMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

at the time* to be an absconded offender or not), shall forfeit and
pay a penalty or sum of not less than 5s. nor more than £20.’’
The settler? are likewise completely at the mercy of the Government,
They may be deprived on a sudden, at the will of the Government,
of their assigned servants, whenever they are considered to be
improper persons to have the charge of convicts, or when they
contravene the police regulations; and as convicts are almost the
only labourers which the settlers can obtain, the latter are entirely
depShdent upon the favour of the Government, and are obliged
implicitly to obey its commands. The severity of the general system
pursued in Van Diemen’s Land enables the Government therefore
to enforce stricter discipline amongst the road-parties in that colony,
than would be possible in New South Wales, without adopting a
much harsher system with regard to these parties, or much severer
police regulations with regard to the whole colony. The latter
alternative seems hardly .possible, and probably would not be
endured in so wealthy and flourishing a community as that of New
South Wales.

22. The Convict Barracks at Hyde Park. 1820 c.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., p. 22.)

The convict barrack is built at the north-east end of a large open
space of ground called Hyde Park, and is inclosed by a wall of 10 J
feet high, that separates it on the north from the hospital ground;
and the pleasure grounds attached to the governme .t house, and
towards the south and west from Hyde Park. On each side of the
entrance, that is towards the west, are two small lodges 12 feet
square, occupied by a clerk and constable; and in the centre of an
area, not sufficiently large for the numerous buildings and offices
that range along the interior of the walls, is the principal barrack.
It is a handsome brick structure, 1 30 feet in length and 50 in breadth,
and contains three stories, that are each divided by a lofty passage,
separating one range of sleeping rooms from the other. There are
four rooms on each floor, and of these six are 35 feet by 19, and the
six others are 65 feet by 19. In each room, rows of hammocks are
slung to strong wooden rails, supported by upright stauncheons
fixed to the floor and roofs. Twenty inches, or two feet in breadth
and seven feet in length are allowed for each hammock; and the
two rows are separated from each other by a small passage of three
feet. Seventy men sleep in each of the long rooms, and thirty-five
in the small ones. Access to each floor is afforded by two stair-cases,
placed in the centre of the building; and the ventilation even in the
warmest seasons is well maintained. The doors of the sleeping rooms,
and those communicating with the court yard, are not locked
One wardsman is appointed to each room, who

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is responsible for the conduct of the others. Two watchmen and a
constable are charged with the care of the yard gate. Each room of
the dormitory contains fire-places, but they have not hitherto been
used, except in the rooms of the ground floor. A lamp is'allowed to
be burnt in each gallery during the night. Another dormitory is
provided in one of the long buildings, on the north side of the yard,
80 feet in length by 1 7, in which the convicts lately arrived,' and
those returned into barrack by order of the magistrates are lodged.
They sleep on the mattresses that are brought from the convict
ships, and spread them upon raised and sloping platforms of \vood
similar to those used in military guard rooms. The convicts employed
in the kitchens and bakehouse are allowed to hang their hammocks
there.

23. Clothing Issue for Government Convicts. 1820 c.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., p. 61.)

On the arrival of every convict in New South Wales, a suit of
clothing is given to him, consisting of a coarse woollen jacket, and
waistcoat of yellow or grey cloth, a pair of duck trowsers, a pair of
worsted stockings, a pair of shoes, two cotton or linen shirts, a
neck handkerchief, and a woollen cap or hat. . . .

The convicts that are exposed to harder labour in the quarries,
and the carters and bullock drivers, each receive a pair of shoes
every three months. The summer clothing to the convicts in the
barracks, consists of a canvas smock frock, one linen or cotton shirt,
two pair of trowsers, (one of which ought to be reserved for use on
Sundays) one pair of shoes, and one cap. Until the end of the year
1820, these supplies were furnished from the old canvas and sheeting
that were found in the commissariat stores, and that had remained
there for several years. The convicts out of barrack have had no
regular slop-clothing issued to them for two years ; but their allow-
ance differs in no respect from that of the convicts in the barrack.

24. Couvict Rations. 1820 c.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., p. 64.)

Wherever the convicts are lodged in barracks, the rations both
of meat and flour are cooked and baked for them there; those issued
to the road parties are distributed by the overseers, and cooked
by the convicts in their separate huts. Care has not been always
taken to give a regular allowance of salt to the road parties ; and in
the heat of summer the meat has been touched very soon after it
was issued. With the exception of one occasion, in which it happened
that some ill cured pork, imported from the Society Islands, and
some equally ill cured beef and mutton from Van Diemen’s Land,
was issued as rations in the month of January, ^1820, I did not

126 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

•

observe an-^ defect in the quality of the meat issued to the convicts,
nor did I receive any complaints from those to whom I addressed
observatiop.s on the subject. I attended both at Windsor and at
Paramatta, and in Van Diemen’s Land, at the distribution of the
meat on several occasions, and had reason to be satisfied that it was
as impartially made as the circumstances would admit. The manage-
ment of the victualling department at the convict barracks is
assigned to the deputy superintendent Gandle. The chief engineer
ma^e a point of attending at the barrack at the dinner hour several
days in the week, to inspect the messes, and to attend to complaints
respecting the food, and informed me that he had never observed
the quantity to be deficient.

25. Appearance of the Convicts. 1820 c.

(J. T, Bigge: State of N.S.W., p. 63.)

Their general appearance at the muster before the church doors
at Sydney and Paramatta was cleanly and decent. The hammocks
and bedding in the convict barrack, as well as the sleeping rooms,
were kept in a very clean state; and although there was no regular
allowance of soap made to the convicts, yet sufficient was issued to
them for ordinary purposes; long water troughs and towels were
always kept in readiness in the mornings before they went to their
work, and barbers were attached to the barrack, who were made
to shave the convicts regularly twice a week. At Hobart Town, at
the muster of the convicts on Sundays, I observed a greater variety
of dress; and as there existed no order for obliging the convicts to
appear in that which is issued on their arrival, those who can
afford it purchase ordinary apparel, or wear that which they bring
out with them. This distinction appeared to me to prevail chiefly
amongst the convicts transported for forgery, and for uttering forged
notes, and it has given rise to the use of a term that is applied in
derision to all such convicts as can afford, or are permitted to wear
their own coats, instead of the short jackets provided by government.

26. The Convict Farms. 1820 c.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., p. 24.)

The first of these consists of 280 acres of land that were granted
by Governor King to trustees for the benefit of the female orphans,
and that have been since surrendered by them to government,
upon an understanding that the trustees were to receive, in exchange,
an equal quantity in any other part of the colony that they might
select. The land is bounded on the north by the high road to
Paramatta, and is situated about two miles from Sydney. The use
to which it was^ first applied was that of affording pasturage for

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the horses and draught cattle employed in the works ^t Sydney;
latterly, and since the early part 00819 , the land, which is of a very
inferior description, has been gradually cleared of trees aryi stumps,
farm buildings have been erected, and the old dwelling-houses
enlarged. Sleeping-rooms for 160 men and boys, with airing sheds
of brick, have been constructed; and much pains have been taken
to form a series of tanks, by deepening and widening the course of
a small rivulet that traverses a portion of the farm, and in making
a reservoir of water in the lowest part, where it adjoins the pul^lic
road. Gardens, for the use of the convicts, have been laid out on
the banks, and have been made very productive, in the common
kinds of vegetables ; the old fence that surrounded the farm has been
nearly removed, and, in its place, a very strong and well-made
four-railed fence has been nearly completed. Within the last two
years attempts have been made to exhibit, in this farm, several of
the processes of English husbandry, and no means have been spared,
either by the selection of the best labourers, or by the most abundant
supply of implements, materials and manure, to insure their success.
The farm is placed under the immediate superintendence of a
convict named Ebenezer Knox, who acquired his knowledge of
agriculture in one of the southern counties of Scotland; but the
direction of the operations has been wholly in the hands of Major
Druitt, the chief engineer. The produce of the farm has been chiefly
consumed as green food for the draught cattle that are employed
at Sydney; and although in this respect the farm has been of use,
and has exhibited as well as taught more approved modes of agri-
culture than have hitherto been practised by the settlers in New
South Wales, more especially that very useful one of eradicating
the stumps and roots of trees, by covering them with green sods of
earth and setting fire to them, yet the intrinsic value of the operations
has been diminished by the injudicious precipitation with which
they have been conducted.

27. Some Observations on Working for the Government.

1820 c.

(J. T, Bigge: State of N.S.W., loc. cit.)

The labour, it has been observed, required by the chief engineer
from the. government convicts, is in its nature purely coercive;
they derive no advantage from it, and have no interest in improving
or augmenting it: they have not even the ordinary incentive held
out to other convicts, from the hope, or rather the expectation, of a
remission of their punishment at the periods at which they are
granted to others; and they are well aware, that any skill that they
may acquire or display in the service of government, will be the
cause of their further detention in it (pp. 30-1).

128 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

It has been seen by the information already afforded, that the
system of government labour pursued at Sydney, Paramatta and
Windsor, ^presents only a choice of evils ; that the only stimulus
to active labour amongst the convict mechanics is created by their
hope of temporary and luxurious indulgence, that it is neither
subject to regulation, nor capable of it; and that where it is created
by means of task work, there is more of loss incurred by the careless
manner of the performance, than of advantage gained by its
accelerated rate. This system, likewise, considered as a part of
punishment, is equally defective; it proceeds upon the principle of
making skill and sudden exertion, rather than uniform and tried
good conduct, the steps to temporary reward. By this means the
skilful and immoral man is indulged and rewarded, and the in-
expert and well-conducted man is made uneasy and discontented.
On the other hand, it is observed, that where all stimulus to labour
is withdrawn, coercion becomes necessary; but it is that species of
coercion that is incapable, from want of character or extent, of
being exactly applied ; and failing in these essential points, coercive
labour, although operating as a punishment, becomes an instrument
and a pretext for vexation and oppression (p. 48) .

G. The Assignment System

28. Conditions of Assigned Servants in the Early Period.

1800-10 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, pp. 11-12. P.P.
1812, II, 341.)

[Note: The right of the Governor to assign convicts is stated in the Acts 4
Geo. I, c. 11; 24 Geo. Ill, c. 56; and 5 Geo. IV, c. 84. These Acts also give
the assignee property rights in the labour of the convicts. For a comment on
these laws see H.R.A. I, 13, pp. 608-12.]

The convicts distributed amongst the settlers, are clothed,
supported, and lodged by them; they work either by the task or for
the same number of hours as the Government convicts ; and when
their set labour is finished, are allowed to work on their own
account. The master has no power over theih of corporal punish-
ment, and this can only be inflicted by the interference of a
magistrate ; even if the master be a magistrate himself, he can order
no punishment to his own servant, but must have recourse to
another magistrate. If the servant feels himself ill used by his master,
he has power of complaining to a magistrate, who will, if the com-
plaint be well founded, deprive the master of his servant.
It is so much the interest of the settlers to keep their servants in good
health, and to attend to their conduct, that Your Committee have
heard no evidence but in commendation of their treatment, and
of its effects upon their morals and comfort. Indeed it is most

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129

manifest that where tw^o or three convicts are domiciled ?n a family
removed from their former companions, and forced into habits of
industry and regularity, the chance of reformation ^ must be
infinitely greater than when they are worked in gangs, living with
each other amidst all the inducements to vice which such a town as
Sidney must afford them; and such by all the Evidence appears to
be the effect of this system of distributing them amongst the
settlers. Nor is it to be lost sight of, that in the service of settlers they
are likely to acquire some knowledge of farming; and that if ffbm
convicts, they became well-behaved and industrious servants, a
farther possibility is opened to them of becoming prosperous and
respectable settlers. On these grounds Your Committee recommend
as much as possible their distribution as servants and labourers to
individuals; and they have observed with much satisfaction, that
such appears to be the system pursued at present by Governor
Macquarie; nor will such an arrangement materially increase the
expense to Government, or impede the progress of its works. It is
to be found in the Evidence of Mr. Commissary Palmer, that the
expense of each convict in the service of the Government was about
a year, and that a free labourer at Sydney -could be hired for
;^70,but that he would do nearly twice as much work. Mr. Campbell
states the annual expense of a convict at ^£"30, but in the other point
he agrees with Mr. Palmer. Some of the benefits of this system must
be lost where too many convicts are given to one master, and in
some instances forty have been put under the controul of a single
settler; but from the extent of some of the farms, such a distribution
appears to be unavoidable.

29. Conditions of Assigned Servants in the Later Period.
1830-7 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, pp. v-vi. P.P.
1837-8, XXII, 669.)

In 1836 the number of assigned convicts in Van Diemen’s Land
was 6,475; in New South Wales in 1835 the number was 20,207.
In the earlier periods of the colony of New South Wales the supply
of convicts so much exceeded the demand for their services by the
settlers, that the Government used to grant certain indulgences to
those settlers, who were willing to maintain convicts. More recently,
the demand has succeeded the supply; the obtaining convict labour-
ers has become, therefore, to a certain degree a matter of favour,
which has given rise to complaints of abuse in the distribution,
especially of the more valuable convicts. All applications for convicts
are now made to an officer, called the commissioner for the assign-
ment of convict servants, who is guided in his distribution of them
by certain Government regulations. Settlers, to* whom convicts

130 SELECT I>OGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

are assigrred, are bound to send for them within a certain period
of time, and to pay the sum of £\ a head for the clothing
and bedding of each assigned convict. An assigned convict is
entitled to a fixed amount of food and clothing, consisting, in New
South Wales, of 12 lbs. of wheat, or an equivalent in flour and
maize meal, 7 lbs, of mutton or beef, or 4-J lbs. of salt pork, 2 oz. of
salt, and 2 oz. of soap weekly; two frocks or jackets, three shirts,
two pair of trousers, three pair of shoes, and a hat or cap, annually.
Es^h man is likewise supplied with one good blanket, and a palliasse
or wool mattress, which are considered the property of the master.
Any articles, which the master may supply beyond these^ are
voluntary indulgences. The allowance in Van Diemen’s Land
differs in some particulars, and on the whole is more liberal.

Male assigned convicts may be classed under the various heads
of field labourers, domestic servants, and mechanics: the services
of the last class being of more value than those of the two former,
are estimated in assignment as equal to those of two or more field
labourers. In the assignment of convicts scarcely any distinction
is made either on account of the period of the sentence, or on account
of the age, the character, or the nature of the offence of the convict.
The previous occupation of a convict in this country mainly
determines his condition in the penal colonies. For instance,
domestic servants, transported for any offence, are assigned as
domestic servants in Australia: for the greater portion of such
servants in those colonies, even in the establishment of the wealthiest
classes, have hitherto been transported felons. They are well fed,
well clothed, and receive wages from ;^10 to £\b a year, and are as
well treated in respectable families, as similar descriptions of
servants are in this country. In many instances, masters have even
carried to an illegal extent their indulgences to their convict servants.

30* Assignment as a Means of Reformation. 1830-7 c.

(Ev. of Sir F. Forbes to Select Committee on Transportation, pp. 83-
4. P.P. 1837, XIX, 518.)

... I consider the chances of reformation in a state of assignment
much greater than remaining in the road parties, or in the service
of the public, I do not mean tg lay it down as the most efficacious
system of reformation which can be devised, but I use these terms
relatively. From a little pamphlet which I hold in my hand, I would
quote the opinion of a gentleman of considerable experience,
and very competent to form an opinion upon this point; it is
entitled, ^‘A Report of the Proceedings of the General Meeting of
the Supporters of the Petitions to His Majesty and the House of
Commons, May 1836’’; Mr. James McArthur thus expresses himself
at naee 15, ‘Tn 1825, too, a much larger proportion of convicts

TRANSPORTATION

131.

were retained than in 1835, in the employment of gl)vernment,
as road parties, road gangs, &c., which all, who have the least
experience upon the subject, well know would ensure an infinitely
greater proportion of crime than when assigned to private individ-
uals, as of late years has been the case.” I consider assignment to
private individuals as a reformatory system, preferable to the other
of employment upon the public works, because by the system of
indulgences and privations at the discretion of the master, according
to the good or ill conduct of his servant, a greater effect is likely to
be produced upon him; and again, he acquires, while in service
of the assignee, a knowledge of some useful art or occupation,
which, when he becomes free, or entitled to a ticket of leave,
enables him to earn a livelihood by his industry.

31. Experiences of a Convict. 1835.

(Copy of a letter from Henry Tingley to Thomas Tingley, Newick,
near Uckfield, Sussex. Printed in App. to Report of Select Com-
mittee on Transportation, pp. 354-5. P.P. 1837, XIX, 517.)

Dear Mother and Father, Ansley, 15 June 1835.

This comes with my kind love to you, hoping to find you in good
health as, thank God, it leaves me at present very comfortable
indeed. I have a place at a farm-house, and I have got a good
master, which I am a great deal more comfortable than I expected,

I works the same as I were at home; I have plenty to eat and drink,
thank God for it. I am allowed two ounces of tea, one pound of
sugar, 12 pounds of meat, 10 pounds and a half of flour, two ounces
of tobacco, the week; three pair of shoes, two suits of clothes, four
shirts, a year; that is the allowance from Government, But we have
as much to eat as we like, as some masters are a great deal better
than others. All a man has got to mind is to keep a still tongue
in his head, and do his master’s duty, and then he is looked upon
as if he were at home; but if he don’t he may as well be hung at
once, for they would take you to the magistrates and get 100 of
lashes, and then get sent to a place called Port Arthur to work in
irons for two or three years, and then he is disliked by everyone.
I hope you will study these few lines which I have wrote to you, my
dear mother and father, brothers and sisters and all my friends
belonging to me in that country; this country is far before England
in everything, both for work and money. Of a night, after I have
done my work, I have a chance to make a few shillings; I can go
out hunting or shooting of kangaroo, that is about the size of a sheep,
or ducks or swans, tigers, tiger-cats or native cats; there is nothing
that will hurt a man but a snake, they are about five or six feet long,
but they will get away if they can. I have dogs and •a gun of my own,

132 SELECT DeCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

thaak God'^for it, to make me a few shillings, anything that I want;
thank God, I am away from all beer-shops, there is ne’er a one
within 20 'hiiles of where I live. I have a fellow-prisoner living with
me, which he is a shoemaker, and he is learning me to make shoes,
which will be a great help to me ; in about two years I shall be able
to make a pair of shoes myself; then, thank God for it, I am doing
a great deal better than ever I was at home, only for the wanting
you with me, that is all my uncomfortableness is in being away
froiTi you. Dear father and mother, I hope you will understand
it what I have wrote to you in this letter, as it gave me much pleasure
in writing it, and always will, let me be where —

Dear mother and father I have eight years to serve with my
master, and then I shall have a ticket of [leave] relief, that is to
work for myself, and then to keep that for four years if no trouble,
and to have my emancipation, that is to be a free man in this
country; I am now a prisoner then in this place, and then after
that I shall have my free pardon to come to England once more.
But I should be a deal more comfortable if you could get the
parish to send you out, as it would be the making of you if they
would pay your passage over, and give you about £60 to land with,
you would do well. A farming man gets 5s. a day at day-work;
if you was to come you could take me of Government for ^1 for
eight years to work for you, and then we should be more comfortable
than ever we have been, as I am a prisoner; so I hope you will do
your best endeavour to come to this country as it is far before
England. Dear mother and father, I had a most beautiful passage
over, thank God for it; we sailed on the 13th November from Spit-
head, and we landed on the 7th March. From England to Van
Diemen’s Land is 17,000 miles. Dear mother and father, I hope
you will answer this letter as soon as possible, and I hope you will
send me the particulars about everything at home. Dear brothers
and sisters, I hope that you will never give your poor mother and
father so much trouble as I have. Dear mother and father, I hope
you don’t fret about me, as I am a doing well at present; thank God,
I don’t want for anything but to see you, my dears; so God bless
you all for ever. Please to send me word how to farm hops from the
beginning to the ending; but mind, father, it is winter here when
it is summer at home, and when you have day we have night;
and you must be sure to pay the water carriage for the letter you
send me, which is about 8d. ; and I have made enquiries for Henry
Hart and the Newmans from Uckfield, and cannot hear anything
of them. So no more at the present from your loving, though
unfortunate, Henry Tingiey.

father, when you write to me, you must direct for me at Mr.

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133

Lyne’s, Apsiey Lagoon, Molter’s Bay, Great Swan Port, Van
Diemen’s Land.

32. A Settler on Assigned Servants. 1830.

(Hobler MSS., Vol. III.)

16 Oct. 1830

Last night Peter Hawkins came to me for protection he having
been severely beat by Jeffries and Ashley, his head cut opfen
apparently by some sharp instrument. Kept him here for the night
and this morn I took all parties to the Police Office, it appears
Ashley and Peter had gone to town without leave as usual quarrelled
and Jeffries assisted in ill using Peter. The whole mob of them having
made a set against that man from an idea of his telling me tales,
which he does not, Brown laid in his bed and instead of assisting
Peter encouraged the others to beat him, he was ordered 25 lashes
Ashley 30 Jeffries 50 and all promised if again brought for a repet-
ition of the offence they should be sent to Maquarie Harbour.

18 Oct.

My three men were brought to me by the flagelator this morn
having been punished at sunrise. I gave him a receipt for them,
enclosing 2 dollars as a fee, he said they had been very severely
flogged, about noon I observed Jeffries who had reed. 50 and
whose back the flagelator told me was like a mass of bullocks liver
returning from the distillery very drunk. I followed him home,
found him raving against Hawkins . . . fearing the consequences
if Hawkins came in sight whilst the ruffian was under the double
excitement of pain and liquor, I intercepted him and sent him to
the kitchen for his dinner, he of course joins them tonight ... it
will not do for me to seem even to fear the consequences.

H. Tickets of Leave

33. A Description of tlie System. 1835 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, p. xvii. P.F. 1837-8,
XXII, 669.)

[Note: For a discussion by a lawyer on the right to grant tickets of leave
see H.R.A. I, 13, pp. 610-12.]

Your Committee will now turn to the condition, in the penal
colonies, of those offenders against the laws of this country, who
have either become free by the expiration of their sentence, or have
obtained conditional pardons, or what is termed a ticket of leave.
A convict, transported for seven years, obtains, at the end of four
years; for 14 years, at the end of six years; and for Mfe, at the end

134 SELECT POGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

of eight fedivs, as a matter of course, unless his conduct has been
very bad, a ticket of leave, which enables him, according to certain
regulations, to work on his own account. This indulgence on the
whole has a very useful effect, as it holds out hope to a convict if
he behaves well, and is liable to be re-assumed in case of misconduct.
Ticket-of-leave men find no difficulty in obtaining work at high
wages; and having acquired experience in the colony, they are
frequently preferred to lately-arrived emigrants. They fill many
situations of trust in both colonies ; such, for instance, as constables in
the police, overseers of road-parties and chain gangs; the better
educated have been employed as superintendents of estates, as
clerks to bankers, to lawyers and to shopkeepers, and even as
tutors in private families; some have married free women, are in
prosperous circumstances, and have even become wealthy; and the
real editor of one of the leading journals in the colony of New South
Wales was a ticket-of-leave convict.

Great abuses, undoubtedly, have existed in the granting of tickets
of leave ; nevertheless, on the whole, as has been already observed,
the institution of tickets of leave has a useful and beneficial effect.
Your Committee, however, cannot help remarking that there is a
strange legal absurdity connected with the system of granting
tickets of leave, which ought to be removed. A convict was, by
common law, as convict, subject to attaint, and unable to acquire
property, or to maintain a suit in a court of justice; this law was
nearly inoperative, because it was all but impossible, according
to the strict rules of evidence, to prove convict attaint, as it was
necessary to produce in court the record of conviction, and proof
of identity of the person, said to be a convict. In New South Wales
a Colonial Act was therefore passed, which rendered the fact of
coming to the colony as a transport prima facie evidence of the
person being a convict; at the same time, however, it extended the
protection of the law to convicts under partial remission of sentence ;
this law is now repealed, or rather, is at. variance with the express
terms of an Act of the 2 <& 3 Will. 4; and the consequence is, that
though a ticket-of-leave man is permitted to work on his own
account, yet, being a convict, he cannot recover wages for work so
done, or call in his debts, and is consequently liable to be defrauded ;
and cases of frauds of this description have not been uncommon.

34. Tickets of Leave for Women. 1830-7 c.

(App. to Report of Select Committee on Transportation, p. 68.
P.P. 1837, XIX, 518.)

The mode of applying for tickets of leave, and the rules for
theih to female convicts, are in all respects exactly the

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135

same as detailed above with regard to males, except in Sie period
of probation, as shown by the following extracts from the Govern-
ment Order of 17th March 1829, no. 10; and a circular letter
addressed to the magistrates, on 4th September 1829; viz.

^‘With the view of encouraging good behaviour among female
convicts, his Excellency the Governor has been pleased to direct
that the existing regulations relative to the granting of tickets of
leave shall be modified with respect to them, and that they sh^ll
be allowed that indulgence after the following periods of
uninterrupted good conduct in service, in the married state, or as
moni tresses in the factory; viz.

female under sentence for seven years, after two years;
for 14 years, after three years; and for life, after four years.

“Women returned to the first class of the factory will not be
considered as having forfeited their claim to a ticket of leave ; as a
return to this class implies that the individual has not been guilty
of any fault”.

35. Regulations for Ticket of Leave Holders in Van Diemen’s
Land. 1849.

(MS. in Mitchell Library.)

Regulations

For

Ticket of Leave Holders
in

Van Diemen’s Land

1st Ticket-of-Leave Holders on arrival in a District must register
their residence at the Police Office, and also change of residence
while they remain in that District.

2nd Ticket-of-Leave Holders are not to remove from one District
to another without a pass from the Police Magistrate of the
District in which they last registered their residence.

3rd Ticket-of-Leave Holders are not to be absent from their
registered places of residence between the hours of ten o’clock
at night and daybreak, except in actual attendance on their
employers, or by a pass, either from such employers or a
' Police Magistrate.

4th Ticket-of-Leave Holders in the Months of December and
June respectively must personally report themselves at the
Police Office of the District in which they are resident, or
forward to the Police Magistrate a Medical Certificate
showing that they are prevented doing so by sickness: the
indulgence of any Ticket-of-Leave Holder failing to comply

136 SELECT pOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

to this Regulation will invariably be revoked, and in no case
restored in less than one year.

5th Tieket-of-Leave Holders are prohibited from entering any
Theatre or Billiard Room.

6th Destitute Ticket-of-Leave Holders, unable to obtain their
own livelihood, will be received into any of the Hiring Depots
and maintained at the expense of the Government until
they can find employment.

7fii Ticket-of-Leave Holders are allowed to acquire and hold
personal property, — to maintain any action or suit for the
recovery of such property, or for any damage sustained by
them; and in all contracts or other civil matters over which
Magistrates have jurisdiction, will be treated under the
Hired Servants’ Act and other local laws applicable to
free people.

8th Ticket-of-Leave Holders must bear in mind that their Indul-
gence is revocable, and that good conduct is the condition
upon which it is held.

J. S. Hampton, Comptroller-General.
Comptroller-General’s Office, 17th April 1849.

[Note: For examples of applications for tickets of leave see the Appendix
to the Report of the Select Committee on Transportation, p. 20. P.P. 1837,
XIX, 518.]

36, An Opinion on the Behaviour of Ticket of Leave Men.

1820 c.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., p. 125.)

The system of granting tickets of leave to convicts on their
arrival, who are able to support themselves by their labour, or by
the means that they have brought with them, operates as an
encouragement to industry; but at the same time, it too quickly
and too abruptly elevates them from a condition of punishment
to a condition of comparative enjoyment; there are many instances
at Sydney of the successful exertion of these people as retail traders ;
but their industry feeds their vanity as well as their vices, and they
speedily lose that sense of humility and contrition which is essential
to a state of punishment and reform.

Another evil arising from it is, the state of apparent equality
in which it places them with that part of the population that came
freely to the colony; and with those who, having been sent as
convicts at a period when similar indulgences were not so freely
granted, feel surprise and some degree of mortification, when they
see them bestowed upon persons who, in their opinion, have done
nothing to deserve them.

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137

I. The Emancipist and The Expiree

37. Life of the Expiree and Emancipist in the Early Period.

1800-10 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation^ p. 13. P.P. 1812,
IT 341.)

[Note: The right of the Governor to grant pardons is referred to in the Act
24 Geo. Ill, c. 56. The right of the Governor of New South Wales to grant pardons
is specifically dealt with in an Act of 1790, 30 Geo. Ill, c. 47, entitled “An Act
for enabling his Majesty to authorize his Governor or Lieutenant Governoi*of
such Places beyond the Seas, to which Felons or other Offenders may be trans-
ported, to remit the Sentences of such Offenders”. The validity of the pardons
granted by the Governor of New South Wales was upset by the judgment in two
taw cases in 1819. To meet this difficulty the right of pardon was defined in 4
Geo. IV, c. 96, ss. XXXIV-XXXVI. For a discussion of the law of pardon see
a memorandum by Sir F. Forbes in H.R.A. IV, 1, pp. 420-1. See also H,R.A.
I, 10, pp. 549-56.]

At the expiration of the time to which the convicts have been
sentenced, their freedom is at once obtained, and they are at
liberty either to return to this Country, or to settle in New South
Wales; should the latter be their choice, a grant is made to the
unmarried, of 40 acres of land, and to the married, of something
more for the wife and each child: tools and stock (which they are
not allowed to alienate,) are also given to them, and for 18 months
they are victualled from the Government stores. In this manner,
they have an opportunity of establishing themselves in independence,
and by proper conduct to regain a respectable place in society;
and such instances. Your Committee are glad to learn, are not
unfrequent. They also see with satisfaction, that Governor
Macquarie adopts it as a principle, ‘'that long-tried good conduct
should lead a man back to that rank in society which he had forfeited,
and do away, in as far as the case will admit, all retrospect of
former bad conduct”: This appears to him to be the greatest
“inducement that can be held out towards the reformation of the
manners of the inhabitants”. In these principles Your Committee
cordially concur, and are the more anxious to express their opinion,
as, under a former Governor, transports, whatever their conduct
might be, were in no instance permitted to hold places of trust
and confidence, or even to come to the Government House; those
advantages being, in his opinion, not to be expected until after
generations.

38. Life of the Expiree and Emancipist in the Later Period.

1830-7 c. .

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, pp- xvii-xviii.

P.P. 1837-8, XXII, 669.)

In order to complete the description of the various conditions,
in which persons, who have been transported, are •to be found in

138 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

the penai^colonies. Your Committee must mention those who have
obtained k conditional or absolute pardon, or have become free
by the expiration of their sentences: they are termed emancipists
or expirees. In this class are to be found some individuals 'who are
very wealthy, and have accumulated immense fortunes; one is
said to have possessed as much as ^40,000 a year. Every witness
examined gave the same account of the mode in which these
fortunes have been made. The emancipist who acquires wealth,
in^most cases commences his career by keeping a public-house,
then lending money on mortgage; he then obtains landed property
and large flocks, the latter frequently consisting of stolen cattle
which he has purchased. . , .

The greater portion, however, of this class are labourers and small
shopkeepers ; and if industrious, they have every facility for making
an honest livelihood, but as, on the expiration of their sentence,
they are exposed to every description of temptation, the greater
portion of them retain the habits of profligacy which first led them
into crime, and become still more worthless and dissipated. Of the
numerous crimes committed in the colony, the greater portion
are perpetrated by this class. Among the emancipists and ticket-of-
leave men are to be found the cattle-stealers, receivers of stolen
goods, keepers of illicit spirit-shops, and squatters, of the number
and extent of whose offences every witness spoke in the strongest
terms. In Van Diemen’s Land the number of expirees or emanci-
pists probably does not exceed 3,000. Sir George Arthur described
them as the worst class in the colony.

39. Failure of some Emancipated Convicts as Farmers.

1820 c.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., p. 140.)

[Note: 1. For further information on this subject see Bigge: Agriculture
and Trade, p. 35; P. Cunningham: Two Tears in New South Wdes^ Vol. II, pp.
134, 137; A. Harris: Settlers and Convicts, p. 126.

2. Bigge contended that there had been serious abuses in this system. See
State of N.S.W., pp. 172-3. He recommended that the grants should not exceed
ten acres, and should only be given to convicts vdth at least £20 in capital {ibid.,
p. 173). For the policy of the Government of New South Wales on this recom-
mendation see H.R.A. I, 11, p. 579.

3. In an enclosure of a dispatch by Arthur to Hay, 23 April 1827, Major
Morrisset, who had been Commandant in Newcastle and Bathurst, stated the
reasons for discontinuing land grants to expirees : “The practice of giving Grants
of Land to Prisoners, merely because they had become free by servitude, has
been discontinued. Those farms, which have been given in this way to Prisoners
in early stages of the Colony, have since chiefly fallen into the hands of Store-
keepers and others, who have supplied them with drink, money, or goods,
taking security upon the farms for the amount; a system so grossly injurious as
to need no comment.’* See H.R.A. III, 5, p. 675.]

They constitute the middle and lower order of settlers in the

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133

colony, and having in general begun with very limited means,
they have been obliged to depend solely upon the return of the
produce of their land. It is through their means, therefore, that
the greatest quantity of grain has been produced for the consump-
tion of the colony; -and it is also through their want of means, and
their want of capital and skill, that the productive powers of the
soil, that is not generally a fertile one, have been exhausted by
repeated cropping. Many of the original grantees ai'e now either
reduced to a state of dependence upon their creditors, or are
seeking for opportunities of redeeming themselves, by removal to
some new and more productive tracts. There are, however, excep-
tions to these cases, and they consist of the emancipated convicts,
who, during servitude, were enabled to accumulate property, and
acquired a knowledge of agricultural occupations, and who obtained
grants of some portion of the rich lands in the valley and plain,
that are fertilized by the inundations of the rivers Nepean and
Hawkesbury.

In these tracts, I observed some decent habitations that had
been established by emancipated convicts; but there was also a
great many, that were within reach of the inundations of the river,
the owners of which persisted in exposing themselves and their
property to its ravages, that they might indolently reap the benefits
of the fertility that it left behind. The tracts on the shores of the
river Hawkesbury have thus afforded support to many of the most
worthless and indolent cultivators, and the produce has been
diminished in quantity, as well as quality, by the successive
cultivation of the same grain, and by the admixture with it of
rank weeds and wild vetches.

40. Opposition to the Emancipists. 1820 c.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., pp. 149-50.)

[Note: For other aspects of this question see Section 7, A, 7, 8, 9, 11, and
Section 8, E, 29 of this volume.]

The attempt of Governor Macquarie to introduce the emanci-
pated convicts whom I have named into general society, has not
been attended with much better effect. In making this attempt,
it has been a favourite expression of Governor Macquarie, and is
now adopted by the emancipated convicts themselves, that by
setting an example himself, and encouraging association with
them in others, he is in fact only restoring these people to the rank
in society that they had lost. I cannot think that this favourite
expression and argument of Governor Macquarie can have been
either strictly used or well considered by him; inasmuch as there
is not one of the persons whom he has thus admitted to his society,
to whom (with the exception perhaps of Mr. Redfern) it may not

140 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

be truly ^aid, that such an admission was a very great elevation.
The private and early history of all of them would certainly not
have placed their natural rank in society above that level which,
by their industry, they had reached. Mr. S. Lord, but for his elevation
to the bench of magistrates, and his admission to the society of
government house, would have continued to be an industrious,
intelligent manufacturer; Mr. James Meehan would have remained
an useful subordinate officer in his department; Mr. Michael
Rfibinson would have had the satisfaction of printing his odes,
instead of being raised to the titular honours of poet laureat to the
government of New South Wales, and reciting his poetry in the
government house on birth days; and Mr. Fitzgerald would have
enjoyed the fruits of his industry and integrity as an agent, in the
just tributes of respect that were paid to both, by the family of
Mr. McArthur, as well as others who bore testimony to them;
Mr. Greenway would perhaps have procured that gradual admission
to society to which his talents, as an architect, would have entitled
him, if the respect due to them had not been impaired by his
habits of negligence and of indulgence.

The elevation of these persons to a rank in society which they
never possessed, and . for which, without meaning any reflection
upon them, their manners gave them no kind of claim, has not
been productive to them of the benefits that were contemplated.

J. The Punishment of Convicts

41, The Chain Gang. 1835 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, p. xiv. P.P. 1837-8,
XXII, 669.)

In 1834 the number of convicts in the chain-gangs of New South
Wales was about 1,000, and in those of Van Diemen’s Land in 1837
about 700; this description of punishment is a very severe one.
Sir G. Arthur said, “as severe a one as could be inflicted on man”.
Sir R. Bourke stated, “that the condition of the convicts in the
chain-gangs was one of great privation and unhappiness.” They
are locked up from sunset to sunrise in the caravans or boxes used
for this description of persons, which hold from 20 to 28 men, but
in which the whole number can neither stand upright nor sit down
at the same time (except with their legs at right angles to their
bodies), and which, in some instances, do not allow more than 18
inches in width for each individual to lie upon on the bare boards ;
they are kept to work under a strict military guard during the day,
and liable to suffer flagellation for trifling offences, such as an
exhibition of obstinacy, insolence, and the like; being in chains,
discipline is mpre easily preserved amongst them, and escape

TRANSPORTATION

141

more easily prevented than among road-parties out chains.
This description of punishment belongs to a barbarous age, and
merely tends to increase the desperation of the character of an
offender. The nature of the duty imposed upon the military in
guarding the chain gangs has the worst effects upon the character
and discipline of the soldiers. Colonel Breton, who commanded a
regiment in New South Wales, stated to Your Committee, that it
produced the greatest demoralization among the troops, and the
men became reckless; the demoralization arose, he said, pai^Iy
from drunkenness, of which there was much amongst the troops
in that country; he had no less than 16 soldiers transported to
Norfolk Island, all of them from being drunk on sentry; demoral-
ization was likewise produced amongst the troops by their intercourse
with the prison population, which could not be prevented, because
many of the men found their fathers, brothers, and other relations,
amongst the convicts.

42. The Penal Settlements. 1835 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, pp. xiv-v. P.P.
1837-8, XXII, 669.)

For crimes of greater magnitude convicts are re-transported.
The penal settlements of New South Wales are Norfolk Island
and Moreton Bay; at the former, the number of convicts in 1837
were about 1,200; in the same year the number at Moreton Bay
did not exceed 300, as the establishment there has been considerably
diminished, and only offenders under short sentences were sent
there. Moreton Bay is likewise a place of punishment for convict
females, who are re-transported for offences committed in the
colony. The number of convicts at the penal settlement of Van
Diemen’s Land, Port Arthur was, in 1835, 1,172. Norfolk Island
is a small and most beautiful volcanic island, situated in the midst
of the ocean, 1,000 miles from the eastern shores of Australia, and
inaccessible, except in one place, to boats. Port Arthur is on a
small and sterile peninsula, of about 100,000 acres, connected with
Van Diemen’s Land by a narrow neck of land, which is guarded,
day and night, by soldiers, and by a line of fierce dogs. Ail commun-
ications, except of an official nature, between these places and the
settled districts are strictly forbidden; the penal settlements of
Norfolk Island and Port Arthur are inhabited solely by the convicts
and their keepers. “The work appointed for the convicts,’’ to use
the expression of the chief superintendent of convicts in Van
Diemen’s Land, “is of the most incessant and galling description
the settlement can produce; and any disobedience of orders,
turbulence or other misconduct is instantaneously punished by
the lash.”

142 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

The cctidition of the convicts in these settlements has been shown
to Your Committee to be one of unmitigated wretchedness. Sir
Francis Forbes, chief-justice of Australia, stated, in a letter to Mr.
Amos on the subject of transportation, that ‘‘The experience
furnished by these penal settlements has proved that transportation
is capable of being carried to an extent of suffering such as to render
death desirable, and to induce many prisoners to seek it under
its most appalling aspects.’’ And the same gentleman, in his evidence
btfore Your Committee, said, “that he had known many cases
in which it appeared that convicts at Norfolk Island had committed
crimes which subjected them to execution, for the mere purpose of
being sent up to Sydney; and the cause of their desiring to be so
sent was to avoid the state of endurance under which they were
placed in Norfolk Island; that he thought, from the expressions
they employed, that they contemplated the certainty of execution;
that he believed they deliberately preferred death, because there
was no chance of escape, and they stated they were weary of life,
and would rather go to Sydney and be hanged.” Sir Francis Forbes
likewise mentioned the case of several men at Norfolk Island cutting
the heads of their fellow prisoners with a- hoe while at work, with
a certainty of being detected, and with a certainty of being executed;
and according to him, they acted in this manner apparently without
malice, and with very slight excitement, stating they knew they
should be hanged, but it was better than being where they were.
A similar case was mentioned by the Rev. Henry Stiles, in his
Report to Sir Richard Bourke on the state of Norfolk Island. And
Sir George Arthur assured Your Committee that similar cases
had recently occurred at Port Arthur. Sir Francis Forbes was then
asked, “What good do you think is produced by the infliction of
so horrible a punishment in Norfolk Island; and upon whom do
you think it produces good?” His answer was, “That he thought
that it did not produce any good;” and that, “If it were to be put
to himself, he should not hesitate to prefer death, under any form
that it could be presented to him, rather than such a state of
endurance as that of the convicts at Norfolk Island.”

43. Captain Maconochie on Conditions at Norfolk Island.
1847.

(A. Maconochie: Norfolk Island, loc. cit.)

1400 doubly-convicted prisoners, the refuse of both penal colonies,
(for the worst offenders were sent here from Van Diemen’s Land
as well as New South Wales), were rigorously coerced all day,
and cooped up at night in barracks which could not decently
accommodate half the number. In every way their feelings were
mitYa^ed, and their self-respect destroyed. They were

TRANSPORTATION

143

required to cap each private soldier whom they met, and even
^each empty sentry-box that they passed. If they met a superior
they werQ to take their caps off altogether, and stand aside, bare-
headed, in a ditch if necessary, and whatever the weather, till he
passed, in most cases without taking the smallest notice of them.
For the merest trifles they were flogged, ironed or confined in gaol
for successive days on bread and water. The offences most severely
visited in them were at the same time chiefly conventional, those
against morals being but little regarded, compared with thcBe
against an unreasonable discipline. Thus the most horrid devices,
with acts of brutal violence, or of dexterity in theft and robbery,
were detailed to me by the officers as being exhibited among them,
with little direct censure, and rather as anecdotes calculated to
astonish and amuse a new-comer, — ^while the possession of a pipe,
a newspaper, a little tea, some article of clothing not furnished
by the Government, or the omission of some mark of respect,
or a saucy look, or word, or even an imputation of sullenness,
were deemed unpardonable crimes. They were also fed more like
hogs than men. Neither knives, nor forks, nor hardly any other
conveniences were allowed at their tables. They tore their food
with their fingers and teeth, and drank for the most part out of
water-buckets. Not more than about two-thirds of them could
even enter their mess-shed at a time; and the rest, whatever the
weather, were required to eat as they could in an open shed beside
a large privy. The Island had been fifteen years a penal settlement
when I landed, yet not a single place of worship was erected on it.
It had been seven years a settlement before even a clergyman was
sent. There were no schools, no books; and the men’s countenances
reflected faithfully this description of treatment. A more demoniacal
looking assemblage could not be imagined, and nearly the most
formidable sight I ever beheld was the sea of faces up-turned to
me when I first addressed them (pp. 4-5).

In the strong language cited by the Rev. Dr. Ullathorne, as having
been addressed to him by an unhappy victim of the system of the
Island itself, ''When a prisoner was sent to Norfolk Island he lost
the heart of a man, and got that of a beast instead.^’ (p. 3).

44 . Captain Maconochie’s Methods on Norfolk Island. 1840-4.

(A. Maconochie: Norfolk Island, p. 6.)

[Note : For an account of the methods of Captain Maconochie see the articles
on Convicts and Captain Maconochie in the Australian Encyclopaedta,}

... I sought generally by every means, to recover the’ men’s self
respect, to gain their own .wills towards their reform, to visit moral
offences severely, but to reduce the number of those that were
purely conventional, to mitigate the penalties attached to these.

144 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

and thu^ gradually awaken better and more enlightened feelings
among both officers and men. I built two churches . . . distributed
books— gave prizes for assiduity 3 — ^was unwearied myself in my
counsels and exhortations wherever I went, — and went everywhere,
alone and unattended, showing confidence, and winning it in return.
I also gave every man a small garden, which was a boon to the
industrious, but none to the idle: those whom I camped out in
the bush I encouraged also to rear pigs and poultry, thereby
iEmproving their ration, and, still more, infusing into them by the
possession of property that instinctive respect for it which makes
it safer in a community than any direct preservatives. I thus also
interested my police, who were all prisoners, in the maintenance
of order, their situations, which were much coveted, being made
to depend on their success. I gave the messes knives, forks, a few
cooking utensils, tin pannekins, &c. I allowed the overseers, police,
and other first-class men, to wear blue jackets, and other articles
of dress not portions of usual convict clothing; and nothing contri-
buted more than this to raise their spirits, revive their self-respect,
and confirm their good purposes. And on one occasion I gave a
glass of rum-punch to all hands to drink the Queen’s health, and
had two plays acted the same evening, — one of the wisest, and best-
considered acts of my whole administration, and which has been
the most pertinaciously censured.

45. The Secretary of State’s Criticism of Captain Maconochie.
1843.

(Stanley to Gipps, 29 April 1843. H.RA, I, 22, p. 692.)

The concurrent testimonies of all competent witnesses convince
me that what may have been gained by the relaxation of Discipline
in an encreased mildness of demeanour has been more than com-
pensated by the growth of moral and social evils of another kind.
Crimes, unattended with violence, but not on that account the
less offensive and pernicious, appear, unhappily, to have been on
the encrease. ... I find no proof of the growth, under Captain
Maconochie’ s Plans, of that renovation or improvement of the
Religious and Moral Character, which was promised as one of the
surest fruits and highest advantages of his experiment. . . . Captain
Maconochie’ s Plans . . . labour at least under the serious disadvan-
tage of impairing the dread of the punishments of Transportation

A minor, but still a very serious evil is the great and indefinite
expense, of which the execution of Captain Maconochie’ s plan
has been productive. It has been such as to defy all previous
calculation, and as greatly to embarrass the Commissariat Officers
at Norfolk Island, and at Sydney, in finding funds to meet the
sreat and unforeseen demand upon them.

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145

46. The Use of Punishments to Induce Confessions^ 1825 c.

(Papers relating to the Conduct of Magistrates in New South
Wales. P.P. 1826, XXVI, 277.)

James Pharos having confessed to a robbery before a constable,
and afterwards denied it before the Court, a sentence was pro-
nounced to be flogged every morning until he confessed where
the property was; and he gave up a watch in consequence of
that sentence. , . .

James Blackburn, attached to the prisoners barrack; ordered
to receive twenty-five lashes every morning, and be kept on bread
and water, until he tells who were the four men that were in
company with him gambling. . . .

William Earles, attached to the clearing gang on the estate of
the Reverend Samuel Marsden; ordered to be confined in a ceil
on bread and water, until he tells where an absolute pardon is,
given to him by John Durrah, to take to Dr. Douglass.

47. A Dramatic Reprieve. 1803.

(Sydney Gazette^ 17 April 1803.)

At ten o’clock this morning, the New South Wales Corps and
inhabitants attended at the place of execution, and Robert Jillet
the criminal under sentence of Death, and James Hailey left the
Gaol; Jillet appeared at first little affected at his situation; but
when the cart reached the Provision Store, for robbing of which
he had been convicted, he burst into tears, as he also did at the upper
end of Pitt’s Row, when passing by the avenue which led to his
former habitation. Here the recollection of his family overwhelmed
him with an anguish which, if possible, heightened as he approached
the intended place of execution. Hailey had read several passages
of Scripture to him on the way, to which the Criminal paid much
attention, but afterwards upbraided him in harsh terms, declaring
that he had not assisted in concealing the cask found in the cooper-
age, (the circumstances of which are stated in the trial of the
prisoner in our last week’s paper). When arrived at the awful
spot, the prisoner got out of the cart, and was received by the
Rev. Mr. Marsden, who had attended him while under sentence,
and who now emphatically performed the duties of his function.
Jillet again ascended the cart, and, after he had been delivered
over to the executioner, his Reprieve was received, and published
by the Provost Marshal. Convulsed with unspeakable joy and
gratitude, for so unexpected an extension of mercy, he^ fell rnotion-
less, and for some moments continued in a state of insensibility ,
when he recovered, he was taken back to his late confinement.

James Hailey, late cooper at His Majesty’s Stores, now heard
his sentence read, in pursuance of which, he received 200 lashes

146 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

under tl^e gallows; an example, by which we earnestly trust
others may be deterred from the commission of such offences.

The Store attendants at Sydney, Parramatta, Castle-Hill, and
Hawkesbury, were indiscriminately ordered to attend on the
occasion, to be spectators of the punishment.

48. ' Flogging. 1835 c.

(App. to Report of Select Committee on Transportation, p. 238.
FfP, 1837, XIX, 518.)

Calvin Sampson, America, stealing a pair of shoes, 50 lashes.
Blood flowed at the 4th; the convict cried out at the 18th, and
continued crying for a few succeeding lashes ; his skin was consider-
ably torn, and blood flowed during the whole of the punishment.
This man groaned much, and prayed whilst suffering his sentence;
and afterwards declared seriously that he ^Vould never come
again.’’ I am of opinion that he was sufficiently punished at the
25th lash; and I felt convinced that he suffered so severely as to
become, henceforth, more careful in subjecting himself to the
infliction of punishment in Hyde Park Barrack, under my super-
intendence. This convict says he was flogged once on the passage
out, but never before in the colony.

[Note: In the same appendix there are many other examples quoted. See
also R. Therry: Reminiscences of Thirty Tears’ Residence in New South Wales and
Victoria^ pp. 42-50, 116-19. For a defence of flogging see J. Mudie: The Felonry
of New South Wales^l

K. Transportation as a Punishment and a Cause of
Reformation

49. The Opinion of Commissioner Bigge. 1820 c.

(J. T. Bigge: State of N.S.W., pp. 103-4.)

From the want of means, that has before been adverted to,
for making individual reference to the names of convicts in the
books of the governor’s secretary, as well as in those of the prin-
cipal superintendent of convicts at Sydney, I found it impossible
to ascertain what degree of influence the different condition of the
convicts transported to New South Wales might have had upon
their conduct there, or the greater propensity of one class than of
the others, to commit offences. I could only, therefore, resort to the
opinions of the best informed of the inhabitants respecting it. I
found that this was a subject upon which very few of them had ever
bestowed any consideration; for the selection of the convicts on
their arrival, by the settlers, as well as that which is made by the
magistrates, proceeds altogether upon their capacity for labour,
and not upon ^ any retrospect of their former lives or characters,

TRANSPORTATION

147

or the length of their sentences; and upon the same principle,
the dismissal of a convict, either for crime or neglect, by ofte master,
forms no objection to his admission into the service of another.
The general opinion appeared to be, that the period of se^^en years,
reduced as it frequently is by service on board the hulks and the
voyage, was too short for the purposes of punishment to the labour-
ing classes of convicts ; that it led them to indulge prematurely the
desire of assuming the condition of settlers, and relaxed those
feelings of habitual caution and obedience, and that respectful
demeanor, for which those who had arrived in the early periods
of the colony, and had endured its rigorous discipline, were and
and are yet distinguished.

The shortness of this term of seven years, being still farther
abridged by the expectations of remission of punishment, that have
assumed more the character of claims than of rewards, since the
promulgation of Governor Macquarie’s orders of the year 1813,
inspires the convict transported to New South Wales, for that term,
with a stronger wish to return to England than to remain in the
colony. This feeling is also more prevalent amongst the convicts
whose criminal habits are confirmed, and whose only view in
returning to England is that of indulging them, than amongst those
who have been the victims of a single error, or of a casual but
strong temptation. To this last description of convicts the transport-
ation to New South Wales, even for seven years, holds out an
opportunity of retrieving that error, which it will be rarely their
lot to find at home; and it affords a shelter from reproach, from
which, I have heard many of them declare, they were most anxious
to be released, and which they were determined never again to
encounter. W^ith such feelings, men transported for short terms
may be made good servants, and may afterwards become good
settlers. To this class of convicts, which, in respect to the term of
sentence, is a numerous one, it must be admitted that the prospect
afforded by transportation to New South Wales, is more one of
emigration than of punishment. In the convicts transported for
14 years, and for life, there is a natural disposition to remain in
the colony; and if their previous state of discipline in it were
prolonged, or rendered more severe, and, above all, if it were
adapted to their future state of existence in the colony, it might
have the effect of creating industrious habits, accompanied with
a hope of ultimate reward, that is yet consistent with a long state of
servitude and bondage. This hope, however, should^ be directed
to the colony, and not to Great Britain; and all the circunistances
that tend to revive or to cherish that hope, must be carefully kept

out of view. ^ ^ t c -

The class of convicts transported for forgery, and for uttering

148 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

forged notes, (of late become so numerous, and generally for 14
years ancf for life), has at all times given the greatest embarrass-
ment to the colonial government, as well as to their employers.
They generally consist of men who have been little accustomed to
laborious employments or to field labour, of printers and composi-
tors in printing offices, and of the lower order of mercantile clerks.
If they are found to possess any clerical skill, they are employed
in the commissariat department, and by the magistrates and
superintendents ; and when assigned to settlers, are most frequently
employed as teachers to the younger branches of poor families,
who are at too great a distance from the public schools to attend
them. The effect of their employment in towns, as clerks, has been
already observed upon; and it appeared to me to be so destructive
of all notion or feeling of punishment, as well as of those distinctions
between the free and the convict classes, that were the essential
characteristics of the early discipline of the colony, that notwith-
standing the additional expense that the subsistence of these persons
might occasion to the crown, I do not hesitate to recommend, that
they should either be subsisted and employed on light work, or,
at all events, that they should be banished from the town of Sydney
into the country, where, if their condition be a little elevated above
that of their fellows, it may be solely imputed to their superior
acquirements, and where they may have no temptation to indulge
their vanity, nor to outrage public feeling by their ostentatious
appearance.

50. The Opinion of Colonel Arthur. 1833 c.

(G. Arthur: Observations upon Secondary Punishment, loc. cit.)

I think you will be constrained to admit that a punishment by
which the offender is stripped of all his property — deprived of his
liberty — shut out from intercourse with his family, totally separated
from them, — denied every comfort, . . . placed on board a trans-
port — subjected there to the most summary discipline — exposed
to ill usage from criminals still worse than himself — conveyed to a
distant country in the condition of a slave-*— then assigned to an
unknown master, whose disposition, temper, and even caprice
he must consult at every turn and submit to every moment, or
incur the risk of being charged with insubordination, which,
if proved before the magistrate, will be followed by corporal
punishment, or removal to the service of the Crown, where his lot
will be still more severe according to the degree and nature of his
offences. He has indeed, by the regulations of the government,
sufficient food and clothing, but the dread of his master’s frown is
to him what the drawn sword was, over the head of Dionysius’s
courtier! ... (P; 3).

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149

The spirit of the convict however is not subdued by unmingled
severity. Encouragement forms part of the plan by \\'hich he is
reclaimed; and the circumstances under which he is placed, are
very favourable to his reformation as well as to his punishment.
His mind is not dissipated by the example and advice of idle and
wicked persons, not under a similar restraint with himself. There
is presented to him the choice of two opposite paths. The one after
patient endurance of fatigue, and a resolute continuance in its
course, will lead him to the possession of a ticket of leave. The cither
on the contrary will conduct him by a short cut, to the government
gang or the penal settlement where he will be subjected to every
privation compatible with the maintenance of his health. . . .

Thus it is that every man has afforded him an opportunity of
in a great measure retrieving his character and becoming useful in
society, while the resolutely and irrecoverably depraved are doomed
to live apart from it for the remainder of their lives (pp. 26-8).

51. The Opinion of E. G. Wakefield. 1830 c.

(Ev. to Select Committee on Secondary Punishments, p. 98. P.P.
1831, VII, 276.)

Have the goodness to state to the Committee the general state
of mind of those persons under sentence of transportation? — I had
particular opportunities of observing the impression made upon
the minds of convicts under sentence of transportation; because,
in the first place, there is always a very considerable number of
such persons in Newgate; and secondly, Newgate is a sort of lodging-
house for convicts coming from the country prisons; they remain
there but a short time, but quite long enough to give any body
who is an inmate of the prison an opportunity of observing the
impressions upon their minds. I took very great pains, during the
course of three years, to observe the state of mind of those persons,
and I do not now remember a single instance in which a prisoner
appeared to me to be deeply affected by the prospect of being
tmnsported to the colonies: on most occasions when I examined
any prisoner I found his mind bent upon the colonies, when he
expected to go there, and bent upon attaining a degree of wealth
and happiness, such as he had no prospect of attaining in this
country. Amongst a number of persons sentenced to transportation,
and living together, I have generally found one, and sometimes two
or three, who had already been in the colonies; and it is very seldom
a session passes at the Old Bailey without the conviction of some
man who has been transported before; consequently the convicts
associating with those men have the best opportunities of hearing
reports as to the state of the convicts in New South Wales and
VanDiemen’sLand : thesereports are always exceedingly favourable;

150 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

#•

in many cases, no doubt, they are much exaggerated in favour of
the convict, because a man who returns from transportation
takes pleasure in making people believe that he has cheated the
law, and that he has enjoyed himself notwithstanding the sentence
passed upon him. But whilst some allowance must be made for
this exaggeration of the returned convict, the story he has to tell
is, when true, a very favourable one in the estimation of these
people: he states such facts, as that a great number of the persons
who keep carriages in Sydney were once convicts, and he gives the
names of those persons, and describes how they, in the course of
a very few years, have raised themselves from the situation of convicts
into that of the most important persons, in point of wealth perhaps,
in the colony. All these representations are received with great
delight by the convicts, and those who think upon the subject at
all go out with the prospect of benefiting themselves and doing well.
A great number never think on the subject at all: they are of
reckless habits, perfectly careless of the future; but they have no
impression on their minds of the probability of receiving any pain,
they have no dread of any ; they are going to be removed,
they would be glad to remain if they could, and they make great
efforts to remain even in the hulks in a great many cases; but it
is always to be discovered that their object is not to avoid any pain
to be inflicted upon them during the passage or in the colonies,
but to remain in this country, and be able in a short period to
resume their old habits, and lead that life of riotous enjoyment
which belong to the habits of criminals.

[Note: It is difficult to assess the effect of iransporation on crime in Great
Britain, Compare the opinion of E. G. Wakefield in the above extract with
the opinion of Archbishop Whately in Document No. 53 of this section. See
also P,P. 1854, LV, 1839 for figures on the decrease of crime in England and
Wales between 1834 and 1853. The author of this parliamentary paper, Mr
Redgrave of the Home Office, makes this comment on the figures : “They show
little variation which calls for particular remark; but it may be observed generally,
that the decrease extends to all the violent offences, both those against the person
and those against property.*’ But he refrains from offering any explanation for
this decrease.]

52. The Opinion of a Convict. Date Unknown.

(Broadsheet in the Mitchell Library.)

A Remarkable Narrative, or,

The Punishment of Transportation Explained

Through the Return of a Merchant’s Son to London after
Suffering Fourteen Years Extreme cruelty, being an
Affecting, Interesting and Impartial Account of the In-
human Treatment, and Barberous Punishments, generally

TRANSPORTATION

151

inflicted on Transports in New South Wales, concluding
with a Solemn Advice to all Young Men. *

The repeated enormities generally investigated, sessions after
sessions, induces us to imagine that too many formetfi improper
ideas on the sufferings of transports, &c. Some may think that
transports are better off abroad than the lower class of people are
at home, others suppose that they prefer remaining abroad, rather
than return at the expiration of time sentenced, whereas the unfor-
tunate object has now returned, declareth, should youth but J^now
the sufferings or dreadful afflictions, attached to that of being
transported to New South Wales, that many would prefer immediate
death, rather than submit to commit such violations as subject
felons to that awful doom, and moreover declareth that to be
transported to New South Wales is no less than lengthening a
torturing death, through which there is but very few out of the
vast number which are sent there that liveth out their time, or
surpasseth their inhuman, cruel and most barbarous punishment &c.

53. The Opinion of Archbishop Whately. 1833 c.

(R. Whately: ‘‘Transportation”, pp. 258-9. Published in his
Miscellaneous Lectures and Reviews,)

To one brought up in refinement, a sentence to wield the spade
or axe, and live on plentiful though coarse food for seven years,
would be felt as a very heavy punishment for flagrant misconduct,
and might induce him to abstain from such misconduct; to the
majority of mankind, it is the very bonus held out for good conduct.

To the great bulk of those, therefore, who are sentenced to
transportation, the punishment amounts to this, that they are carried
to a country whose climate is delightful, producing in profusion
all the necessaries and most of the luxuries of life that they have
a certainty of maintenance, instead of an uncertainty; are better
fed, clothed, and lodged, than (by honest means) they ever were
before; have an opportunity of regaling themselves at a cheap
rate with all the luxuries they are most addicted to; and if their
conduct is not intolerably bad, are permitted, even before the
expiration of their term, to become settlers on a fertile farm, which
with very moderate industry they may transmit as a sure and
plentiful provision to their children. Whatever other advantages
this system may possess, it certainly does not look like a very terrific
punishment.

54. The Opinion of the 1838 Parliamentary Committee on

Transportation. 1837-8. .

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, pp. xx-xxi. r./".

1837-8, XXII, 669.)

Transportation, Though chiefly dreaded as exile, undoubtedly

152 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

is much more than exile; it is slavery as well; and the condition of
the c^jnvict slave is frequently a very miserable one; but that
condition is unknown, and cannot be made known; for the physical
condition ot a convict is generally better than that of an agricultural
labourer; the former is in most cases better fed and better clothed
than the latter; it is the restraint on freedom of action, the degrad-
ation of slavery, and the other moral evils, which chiefly constitute
the pains of transportation, and of which no description can convey
an adequate idea to that class in whom Transportation ought to
inspire terror. ... A criminal sentenced to transportation may be
sent to New South Wales, or to Van Diemen’s Land, or to Bermuda,
or even to Norfolk Island; in each colony a different fate would
await him; his chance of enduring pain would be different. In
New South Wales, or even under the severer system of Van Diemen’s
Land, he might be a domestic servant, well fed, well clothed, and
well treated by a kind and indulgent master; he might be fortunate
in obtaining a ticket of leave, or a conditional pardon, and finish
his career by accumulating considerable wealth. Or he may be the
wretched praedial slave of some harsh master, compelled by the
lash to work, until driven to desperation, he takes to the bush,
and is shot down like a beast of prey; or for some small offence is
sent to work in chains, or to a penal settlement, where having
suffered till he can endure no longer, he commits murder in order
that he may die. Between these extremes of comfort and misery,
there are innumerable gradations of good and evil, in which the
lot of the convict may be cast. But even if all this were known to
the evil-disposed, as well known, as it is to all, who have perused the
Evidence taken before Your Committee, the uncertainty of the
punishment would destroy its effect, and prevent the suffering,
which in many instances is inflicted, from producing apprehension.
For it should be carefully borne in mind, that punishment is meant
for those persons, who are inclined to evil, and its effects are to be
estimated with regard to them alone. Now, the mind of a person
disposed to commit a crime is precisely that of a gambler; he
dwells with satisfaction on every favourable chance, overlooks
every adverse one, and believes that that event will happen, which
is most in accordance with his wishes. He hopes, that, if he commit
a crime, he will escape detection; that, if detected, he will escape
conviction; that, if convicted, he will be pardoned or get off with
a few years in the hulks or Penitentiary; that, if transported, he will
be sent to New South Wales; that if sent to New South Wales, he
will be as well off, as are some of his acquaintances, and make a
fortune. It is by diminishing the number of chances in the criminal’s
favour, not by increasing the amount of contingent evil; in other
words, it is far more by the certainty, than by the severity of

TRANSPORTATION

153

punishment, that apprehension is produced, and thu| Transport-
ation sins against the first and acknowledged princi|fies of penal
legislation.

55. The Opinion of Sir Richard Bourke. 1836.

(App. to Report of Select Committee on Transportation, p, 288.
P.P, 1837, XIX, 518.)

[Note : The charge to the jury to which Governor Bourke refers in this letter
was delivered on 18 November 1835. The main point made by Judge burton
was the increase in crime. For the text of his charge to the jury see Appendix
No. 3 of J. Macarthur: New South Wales, Its Present State and Future Prospects,. It
is probable that Judge Burton^s charge had some influence on the conclusions
of the Select Committee on Transportation, 1837-8.]

In conclusion, I may be allowed to express an opinion, that in no
point of view does this colony present the unhappy spectacle which
Mr. Burton holds up. However prevalent crime may be, it is not
more so, in proportion to its numbers, than formerly, nor so much
so as might naturally have been expected among a population
chiefly consisting of the criminal outcasts of another country. In the
meantime, agriculture and commerce are advancing, and every
year is placing out of the reach of ordinary temptations, and in the
ranks of those interested in maintaining the rights of property, many
who commenced life in their systematic violation. I regret much
that Mr. Burton should have thought it necessary to put forth an
address which dwells upon and even exaggerates evils from which
none could expect a penal colony to escape, while it suppresses all
mention of the numerous causes for congratulation which are
everywhere apparent.

It has served, in a way which I am sure Mr. Burton never intended,
to encourage the clamour of those inconsistent persons who have
attained to wealth by the services of convicts; who, up to the present
moment, are emulating each other in frequent and urgent appli-
cation for more convict servants; who are continually travelling
to their farms and remote stations, over roads of great length and
difficult construction, wholly formed by the labour of convicts; yet
spend their lives in cavilling at the evils by which these advantages
are inevitably accompanied, and charge them on the Government.

L. The Abolition of Transportation to New South Wales

IN 1840

56. The Case for Abolition. 1835 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, p. xli. P.P. 1837-8,
XX, 669.)

Your Committee having in the preceding pages of their Report,
discussed the nature and effects of Transportation, and what

154 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
r

alterations fan be made in the existing system, now consider that
they have submitted the most unquestionable proofs that the two
.main chai;acteristics of Transportation, as a punishment, are
inefficiency in deterring from crime, and remarkable efficiency,
not in reforming, but in still further corrupting those who undergo
the punishment; that these qualities of inefficiency for good and
efficiency for evil, are inherent in the system, which therefore is not
susceptible of any satisfactory improvement; and lastly, that there
belorgs to the system, extrinsically from its strange character as a
punishment, the yet more curious and monstrous evil of calling into
existence, and continually extending societies, or the germs of
nations most thoroughly depraved, as respects both the character
and degree of their vicious propensities. Your Committee, therefore,
are of opinion, that the present system of Transportation should be
abolished. . . .

57. Resolutions of the Legislative Council of New South
Wales against Abolition. 1838.

{V. & P. of the Legis, Court, ofJV.S,W,, 17 July 1838.)

(1) Resolved, That this Council concurs in the opinion expressed
by the numerous and respectable body of Colonists who have
signed the Memorial to His Excellency the Governor, that the
character of this Colony, in so far as the social and moral
condition of its Inhabitants is concerned, has unjustly suffered
by the misrepresentations put forth in certain recent public-
ations in the Mother Country; and especially in portions of the
Evidence taken before a Committee of the House of Commons.

(2) Resolved, That in the opinion of this Council, this would not
only be made clearly to appear, from such an investigation as
the Memorialists solicit, but is in itself already sufficiently
evident to every impartial observer acquainted with the true
circumstances of the Colony.

(3) Resolved, That being satisfied of this fact, and deeply impressed
with the belief, that it will also be brought home to the
conviction of the British Nation, and Parliament, in the further
progress of the Enquiry before the Committee of the House of
Commons now sitting, the Council is reluctant to enter upon
an investigation which to attain the objects sought by the
Memorialists must naturally be inquisitorial in its character;
more especially when it is probable, that the great questions,
which materially affect the interests of this Colony, will be
settled in England, before the results of such an investigation
could be received there.

TRANSPORTATION

155

(4) Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Council, thg numerous
Free Emigrants of character and capital, including many
Oihcers of the Army and Navy, and East India

Service, who have settled in the Colony, with their families,
together with a rising generation of Native-born Subjects,
constitute a body of Colonists, who, in the exercise of the
social and moral relations of life, are not inferior to the
Inhabitants of any other Dependency of the British Crown,
and are sufficient to impress a character of respectability wpon
the Colony at large.

(5) Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Council, the rapid and
increasing advance of this Colony, in the short space of
fifty years from its first establishment in Rural, Commercial
and Financial prosperity, proves indisputably the activity, the
enterprise, and industry of the Colonists, and is ^ wholly
incompatible with the State of Society represented to exist here.

(6) Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Council, the strong
desire manifested by the Colonists generally, to obtain Kloral
and Religious Instruction, and the liberal contributions,
which have been made from private funds, towards this most
essential object, abundantly testify, that the advancement of
Virtue and Religion, amongst them, is regarded with becoming
solicitude.

(7) Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Council, if Trans-
portation and Assignment have hitherto failed to produce all
the good effects anticipated by their projectors, such failure
may be traced to circumstances, many of which are no longer
in existence, whilst others are in rapid progress of
amendment. . . .

(8) Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Council, the great
extension which has latterly been afforded of Moral and
Religious Instruction, the Classification which may in future
be made in the numerous Gaols now in progress of erection
upon the most approved principles of Inspection and
Separation . . . from a combination of circumstances which
renders the Colony better adapted at the present, than at any
former period, to carry into effect the praiseworthy intentions
of the first Founders of the system^ of Transportation and
Assignment, which had no less for its object reformation of
Character, than a just infliction of Punishment.

(9) Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Council, no system of
Penal Discipline or Secondary Punishment will be found at
once so cheap, so effective and so reformatory, as that of well
regulated Assignment, the good conduct of Jhe Convict, and

156 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

his cfjntinuance at labour, being so obviously the interest
of the Assignee, whilst the partial solitude and privations
incid^ental to a Pastoral or Agricultural Life in the, remote
districts of the Colony ... by effectually breaking a connexion
with companions and habits of vice, is better calculated than
any other system to produce Moral Reformation, when
accompanied by adequate Religious Instruction.

(10) Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Council, many men,
- who previously to their conviction, had been brought up in

habits of idleness and vice, have acquired, by means of
Assignment, not only habits of industry and labour, but the
knowledge of a remunerative employment, which, on becoming
free, forms a strong inducement to continue in an honest
course of life.

(11) Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Council, the sudden
discontinuance of Transportation and Assignment, by depriv-
ing the Colonists of Convict labour, must necessarily curtail
their means of purchasing Crown lands, and consequently
the supply of funds for the purposes of Immigration.

(12) Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Council, the produce
of the labour of Convicts, in Assignment, is thus one of the
principal, though indirect means, of bringing into the Colony,
free persons; it is obvious therefore that the continuance of
Immigration in any extended form, must necessarily depend
upon the continuance of the Assignment of Convicts.

[Note: For the Order in Council of 22 May 1840, abolishing transportation
to New South Wales, see H.R.A. I, 20, p. 700. For an account of the events leading
up to this order see F. L. W. Wood: The Constitutional Development of Australia^ pp.
106-7.1

M. Experiments in Penal Reform.

[Note; From 1842 to 1849 the British Government tried new methods of
dealing with criminals sentenced to transportation. A description of these systems,
with detailed references to primary sources, is given in F. L. W. Wood: The
Constitutional Development of Australia, pp. 138-46. The only example illustrated
here is the probation system.]

58. The Probation System. 1842.

(Stanley to Franklin, 25 November 1842. Enc. in Stanley to Gipps,
26 January 1843. H,R,A. I, 22, pp. 516-21.)

I will next consider in their order each of the five stages through
which a Convict will have to pass. For the sake of distinctness, they
may be described as follows: — 1st. Detention at Norfolk Island;
2ndly. The Probationary Gang; 3rdly. The Probation Passes;
4thly. Tickets of Leave; and 5 thly. Pardons. . . .

TRANSPORTATION

157

The second stage of the punishment is that of th^j Probation
Gangs. These Gangs will be assembled in Van Diemen’s Land.
They will be composed first of Convicts who have passed through
the period of detention at Norfolk Island, and secondly of Convicts
sentenced to transportation for a less term than life, who may be
indicated by the Secretary of State for the Home Department as
proper to be placed in this class. The Probation Gangs will be
employed in the service of the Government, and, with rare excep-
tions, in the unsettled Districts of the Colony. No Convict placed
in the Probation Gang will pass less than one, or more than two
years there, except in case of misconduct. Here, as in the case
already mentioned, a contemporary record should be preserved
of the good or the bad conduct of the Convict. Of good conduct,
the reward would be earned in the ulterior stages of his punishment.
His bad conduct would be followed by the penalty of detention for
a proportionate period in the Probation Gang.

The Probation Gangs will be employed in hard labour. But the
labour of all should not be equally hard. Every Gang should be
broken into two or three Divisions distinguished from each other
by such mitigations of toil or other petty indulgencies as may be
compatible with the condition of Criminals suffering the punishment
of their offences. By transference of the men from one of these
Divisions to the other, an effective system of rewards and penalties
might be established, of which the enjoyment or the terror would
be immediate, ...

After a Convict shall have passed through the Probation Gang,
he will next proceed to the third stage of punishment and become
the Holder of a Probation Pass. ...

The essential distinction between the 3 rd stage and those which
preceded it will be that the holder of a Probation Pass may, with
the consent of the Government, engage in any private service for
wages, such wages to be paid and accounted for as subsequently
mentioned. . . .

The holders of Probation Passes are to be divided into three
classes. The difference between the Members of the three classes will
consist in the different Rules under which they will be placed
regarding their hiring and wages. Those, who may be in the first
or lowest class, must obtain the previous consent of the Governor
to any contract of service. Those, who are in the second or third
classes, may engage in any service without such previous sanction
provided that the engagement be immediately reported to the
Governor for his subsequent sanction. Again the Members of the
1st Class will receive from their employers one half only of their
wages. The Members of the 2nd Class two-thirds only of their
wages; but the Members of the 3rd Class the whQle of what they

158 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
c

may so ea^n. The wages kept back from the Members of 1st and
2nd Glasses must be paid by the employer into the Savings Bank.
For the expenditure of the wages actually paid to him^ the holder
of the Probation Pass of whatever class must account when required
by the Comptroller of Convicts or by any person acting under his
authority.

The holders of Probation Passes are to be arranged in the three
classes already mentioned, by the Governor at his discretion. He
wilPhave regard to length of service, to good or bad conduct, and
to every other circumstance which should influence his decision;
and he may, if he shall see cause, degrade the holder of such a pass
from a higher to a lower Class.

In case of gross misconduct, the Governor may resume the
Probation Pass and send back the Convict to serve in the Probation
Gang. But whenever he shall have recourse to any such exercise
of authority, it will be his duty to make a special Report to the
Secretary of State for his information, and for his sanction of the
proceeding.

The proportion of the wages earned by the holder of a Probation
Pass, and paid by the employer into the Savings Bank, is there to
be detained until the Convict shall have been transferred into the
Class of Holders of Tickets of Leave, when and not before it is to be
paid over to the Convict. But, in the event of a Convict forfeiting
his Probation Pass by misconduct, the. whole amount of the deposit
is to be forfeited to the Queen. It will in each such case remain to be
determined how far any part of the forfeiture may be subsequently
remitted in favor of the Convict himself in case of amendment, or in
favor of his family if the Convict should die before any remission
of the forfeiture.

If the holder of a Probation Pass should be unable to obtain
employment in any private service, he must return to the service
of the Government, to be employed without wages, receiving
merely the ordinary Rations of Food and clothing. Such persons
will not be worked in company with Convicts in the Probation
Gangs, nor will they be continued in the service of the Government
after they can obtain an eligible private service. . . .

The holders of Probation Passes will be incompetent to maintain
any suit or action against any person whatever. But, at the instance
of a person so situated, the Comptroller of Convicts will sue his
employer, if necessary, for the amount of any wages earned by the
Convict and unpaid. The holder of a Probation Pass will in like
manner not be liable to any civil suit or action by any person. If the
Pass holder should be indebted to his employer in any sum of
money, the employer may, with the consent of the Comptroller

TRANSPORTATION

i:9

of Convicts, but not otherwise, pay himself the amount of that debt
by withholding from the Convict any proportion of his earnings,
which, according to the preceding regulations, may be^ payable
to the Convict himself. ... » '

The fourth stage, through which the Convict must pass before
obtaining a pardon, is that of the Holders of Tickets of Leave.
The essential condition of this class is that they possess what may
be termed “a. Probationary and Revocable Pardon”, valid in the
Colony in which it is granted, but of no avail elsewhere, -%

No Convict can obtain a Ticket of Leave before half of the term
of the original sentence shall have expired. In the case of persons
sentenced for life, that indefinite term shall for the purpose of this
computation be counted as twenty four years.

Further no person may be transferred from the Class of Probation
Pass Holders into the Class of Ticket of Leave holders, until he
shall have held the Probation Pass for a term equal to the difference
between half the sentence and the shortest period at which under
that sentence, the convict might have arrived at the stage of a
probation pass holder. The rule thus stated with a view to precision
will at first sight appear obscure. An illustration will dispel that
obscurity. Thus, suppose the case of a Convict for life or, as has
already been explained, for twenty four years. Half of his sentence
is twelve years. The shortest period, at which under his sentence
such a Convict could have reached the stage of a Probation Pass
holder, would be six years, for he must have passed four at Norfolk
Island, and two in the Probation Gang. Deduct those six years from
the twelve years already mentioned and there will remain six years
during which the convict must according to the rule already
given hold his Probation Pass. More briefly it may be stated thus,
namely, that one half of the term of the sentence must be passed
in one or other of the three first stages of punishment. But, supposing
that by misconduct the length of the first or of the second state may
have been encreased, no decrease will on that account be permitted
in the third stage. On the contrary, in the case supposed, the whole
term of punishment in the three first classes would endure for a
greater period than one half of the original sentence.

The fifth and last stage, which a Convict can reach during the
continuance of the term of this sentence, is that of a pardon,
conditional or absolute. It is almost superfluous to say that no one
will be able to claim a pardon of right, but that it must in every
instance be an act of pure grace and favor. . . .

[Note: For a comment on the “probation” system see the Latrobe papers in
the Melbourne Public Library. See also the Report of the Select Committee on
the Renewal of Transportation, F. and P. of the Legis. Com, oj X,S,W,^ 1846,
Vol. 2.1

160 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

N. Arguments For and Against Transportation to Eastern

Australia

59. Opinion of Some Employers of Labour. 1848.

{H,R.A. I, 26, pp. 563-4.)

[Note: On 30 April 1846 Gladstone wrote to Fitzroy suggesting renewal of
transportation to New South Wales in a modified form. For this dispatch see
H.R.A, 1, 25j pp. 34”7. For petitions against this proposal see H.R.A. I, 23, pp.
250-5. On 3 September 1847 Grey wrote to Fitzroy suggesting the transportation
of “Gxiles” to New South Wales. For this dispatch see H.R.A. I, 25, pp. 735-8.
On 4 December 1848 Grey announced that “Exiles” would be sent to New South
Wales. See H.R.A. I, 26, pp. 723-4. For Colonial opinion and behaviour on this
proposal see Document No. 61 of this Section, and the reference in the footnote
at the end of that extract.]

The Petition of the undersigned Bankers, Merchants, Agricultur-
ists, Stockholders, and others, Employers of labour in New South
Wales,

To the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty,

Humbly Sheweth,

That your Majesty’s Petitioners are now suffering great incon-
venience and injury from the want of an adequate supply of labor,
owing to the suspension of Immigration and other causes beyond the
Power of Petitioners to controuL

That the want of Labor, which your Majesty’s Petitioners thus
complain, becomes every day more urgent, in consequence of the
additional demand which the natural increase of Cattle and Sheep
rapidly occasions.

That, during the last two years, the price of Labor has increased
about fifty per cent, a rate of increase incompatible with a fair
profit upon Agricultural and Pastoral investments, whilst, on the
other hand, the price of Wool (the staple of the Colony) has fallen
at least 45 per cent.

That, under these circumstances, many of Your Majesty’s
Petitioners are not only precluded from extending their operations,
but, in some instances, the Farmer has been obliged to suspend them
altogether, whilst the Owners of Flocks and Herds will soon have
no alternative left but to boil them down for the mere tallow.

That such a state of things, if not speedily remedied, must be
productive of results ruinous to the immediate interests of Your
Majesty’s Petitioners, and disastrous to the future prosperity of
the Colony.

That, under the pressure of such circumstances, your Majesty’s
Petitioners have read with much interest a Despatch addressed to
the Governor of this Colony by the Right Honorable W. E. Glad-
stone, dated 30th April, 1846, on the subject of the renewal of

TRANSPORTATION

161

transportation to this Colony. They have also read with much
satisfaction the Report of a Select Committee of the ‘legislative
Council, to whose consideration the important Despatch in question
was referred. ^

That Your Majesty’s Petitioners would earnestly solicit your
Majesty’s Gracious attention to the facts and recommendations
set forth in the Report of the Select Committee alluded to, and
humbly trust that they may have sufficient influence on your
Majesty’s Councils to induce the resumption of transporta tioii to
this Colony upon the principles therein recommended or upon
such modifications thereof as may be deemed expedient.

That, in the opinion of your Majesty’s Petitioners, such a measure
would be equally advantageous to this Colony and to the Parent
Country, by opening out a cheap and boundless field of reformation
for her Criminals and support for her paupers, and thus relieving
her from the burthen of their maintenance in expensive establish-
ments at home.

And your Majesty’s Petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray,

Thos, Agars D. Larnach

J. B. Darvall and 449 other persons.

60. The Case Against the Renewal of Transportation. 1850.

(Resolution at the Great Meeting— Barrack Square, Sydney,
16 September 1850. MS. in the Mitchell Library.)

That while a return to Transportation, would not only be
revolting to the feelings of the existing population of New South
Wales, it would from its tendency to destroy the attraction of the
Colony as a field for emigration, ultimately greatly diminish that
very supply of labor which forms the chief recommendation of the
measure to its advocates in the Colony, while in regard to Great
Britain, the enormous revenues hitherto wasted in the maintenance
of her unemployed population, and in the detection, imprisonment,
trial, and transportation of offenders, provide ample means for
establishing when more judiciously applied, a vast system of
national Colonization, which would relieve the Mother Country
from far more of her misery and crime than she has hitherto
succeeded in discharging by means of Transportation, upon her
Colonies, since it would remove, by anticipation, the very causes
of these evils, and transmute them into the seeds of the greatest
blessings, supplying the Colony with all the labour required to
develope its resources, and yielding to Great Britain in return an
incalculable increase of national influence and commercial
prosperity.

162 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
r

61. Tlie of the Anti-Transportation League. 1851.

(E. Finn: Chronicles of Early Melbourne^ VoL II, p. 527.)

The League and Solemn Engagement of the Australasian
Colonies, Declared by the Delegates in the Conference held in
Melbourne, 1st February, 1851.

Whereas, in 1840, by an Order-in-Council, the practice of
transporting convicts to New South Wales was abandoned by the
Croy^n: And Whereas, by divers promises the Government of
Great Britain engaged not to send convicts from the United King-
dom to New South Wales, New Zealand, Victoria or King George’s
Sound: And Whereas, by an Act of the British Parliament, trans-
portation to South Australia was positively prohibited : And
Whereas, Lieutenant Governor Denison, in 1847, declared to the
Colonists of Van Diemen’s Land, Her Majesty’s most gracious
purpose, that transportation to that island should be discontinued:
And Whereas the colony of Van Diemen’s Land has been deeply
injured by the pouring in of enormous masses of transpoi'ted
offenders: And Whereas divers and repeated attempts have been
made to depart from the letter and spirit of these promises: And
Whereas the avowed object of Her Majesty’s Secretary of State is
to transfuse the convicts disembarked in Van Diemen’s Land
through the Australasian Colonies, and thus to evade the spirit
of the promises and Act of Parliament so made : And Whereas large
tracts of land have been purchased by the colonists from the Crown,
many millions of capital invested in improvements, and many
thousands of Her Majesty’s subjects have settled in Australia on the
pledged faith of the Crown not to disturb their social welfare by the
importation of crime: And Whereas the native Australasians are
entitled to all the rights and privileges of British subjects, and to the
sympathy and protection of the British nation : And Whereas many
and varied efforts have been made to induce her Majesty’s Ministers
and the British Parliament to terminate the practice of transport-
ation to these colonies, but without success — Now, therefore, the
Delegates of these colonies, in Conference assembled, do declare
their League and Solemn Engagement, to the effect following: —

That they engage not to employ any persons hereafter arriving
under Sentence of transportation for crime committed in Europe.

That they will use all the powers they possess, official, electoral
and legislative, to prevent the establishment of English prisons or
penal settlements within their bounds; that they will refuse assent
to any projects to facilitate the administration of such penal systems,
and that they will seek the repeal of all regulations, and the removal
of all establishments for such purposes.

That they solemnly engage with each other to support, by their

TRANSPORTATION

163

advice, their money, and their countenance, all who :^iay suffer
in the lawful promotion of this cause. ^

[Noi’e:^ For an indication of the emotions roused by this issue see die speeches
of Henry Parkes on the Transportation Question in H. Parkes : Speeches on Various
Occasions Connected with the Public Affairs of JSfew South 1848- 1874, pp. 3-16.J

62. The Decision to Abolish Transportation to the Eastern
Colonies. 1852.

(Pakington to Denison, 14 December 1852, Further Correspondc*nce
on the Subject of Convict Discipline and Transportation. P.P. 1853,
LXXXII, 1601.)

Whilst I do not wish for a moment to question the sincerity of the
feelings which have been expressed against the introduction of
convicts, yet the reports which it has been your duty to furnish of
the readiness and almost indeed the avidity with which the services
of the convicts in each successive ship that arrived have been
engaged by the settlers, certainly raise at least a presumption that
opinions on the subject in the colony are divided, and that there
must be many who are glad of an opportunity to secure the advan-
tage of this description of labour.

Her Majesty’s Government have not overlooked the consider-
ations which on these and on other grounds of great national
importance may be urged in favour of transportation. But, whatever
may be their value, taken in themselves, we find, as I have above
stated, that there is a general expression of a strong repugnance in
Van Diemen’s Land and in the adjacent colonies to the further
reception of convicts in either of them. Whatever may be the
private opinions of individuals who have not come forward on this
question, numerous public meetings and all the legislative author-
ities in these colonies have declared themselves strongly against
transportation. Her Majesty’s Government have therefore felt it
their duty to take such steps as may enable Her Majesty, with the
assent of Parliament, to comply with a wish so generally and so
forcibly expressed by Her subjects in those colonies.

The propriety of this decision is supported by the effects of the
discovery of gold. It would appear a solecism to convey offenders,
at the public expense, with the intention of at no distant time
setting them free, to the immediate vicinity of those very gold fields
which thousands of honest labourers are in vain striving to reach.
It is quite true that the offenders have to undergo a preliminary
period of imprisonment and of labour j but these are not like^ to
daunt reckless minds. Making every allowance for your efforts
to prevent the desertion of convicts whilst still subject to wntrol,
it is to be remembered that they will in time become qualified for
conditional pardons: and I think it must be admitted by every

164 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

impartial observer that transportation would be disarmed of its
terrors, aiSd that a very undesirable impression would be produced
in the minds of the criminal class, if offenders should long continue
to be senf to an island in the immediate neighbourhood of the gold
colonies of Australia.

You will readily perceive that it must be impossible at this
moment to fix the actual date for the end of transportation to Van
Diemen’s Land. In order to diminish the number of convicts
sentenced to transportation, so as to admit of their being disposed of
in the more limited field which will remain available, certain
alterations in the law must be submitted to Parliament ; new build-
ings must be constructed, to accommodate the larger number of
prisoners who would have to be detained in this country; and it
cannot be expected that so great a revolution in the administration
of the criminal law can be accomplished without a sufficient allow-
ance of time for the extensive changes which it will require. On the
time by which we may hope that these can be completed I , shall
probably address you again, when the arrangements are further
matured. I can only assure you that Her Majesty’s Government are
sincerely convinced of the good policy of the proposed measures,
and anxious to carry them into effect as speedily as possible; and
I trust that when the full purpose which is entertained of accom-
plishing the object shall be known in the colony, the good sense and
moderation of the inhabitants will lead them to acquiesce without
reluctance in the continuance of the existing practice until the large
alterations required for its abolition can be duly provided for in this
country. I may state, in conclusion, that it is a source of much
gratification to me to convey to you a decision so much in accord-
ance with the strongly expressed wish of the colonists of Van
Diemen’s Land; and I trust that they may recognise in it the desire
of the Government of this country to consult their wishes,, and to
strengthen their loyalty to the Grown and attachment to the
British Empire.

[Note: 1. For the Statutes abolishing Transportation and substituting other
punishments, see the Acts 16 and 17 Viet, c. 99, s. 1, and 21 Viet. c. 3, s. 2.

2. In response to requests from the settlers of Western Australia the British
Government began to send convicts there in 1850. Transportation to Western
Australia was abolished in 1868. For the system used see Transportation to Western
Australia. Three Letters to the Editor of the Daily News. With an introduction by
A. McArthur (London, 1864); M. B. Hale: The Transportation Question, or why
Western Australia should be made a reformatory colony instead of a penal settlement
(London, 1857); H. R. Grellett: The Case of England and Western Australia in
Respect to Transportation (London, 1864).

See also Parliamentary Papers 1861-7 for papers on convict discipline and trans-
portation. For detailed references to these papers see M. 1. Adam, J. Ewing,
and J. Munro : Guide to the Principal Parliamentary Papers Relating to the Dominions.]

TRANSPORTATION

165-

O. The Effect of Transportation on Australian Society

63. The Opinion of Captain Maconochie. 1837.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, p. xxxiii. P.P.
1837-8, XXII, 669.)

The fretfulness of temper which so peculiarly characterizes the
intercourse of society in our- penal colonies, may be attributed, I
think, almost exclusively to their convict system. Degraded servar\ts
make suspicious masters; and the habit of suspicion being once
given, masters soon begin to suspect their equals and superiors, as
well as their inferiors; whence, among other symptoms, impatience
and irritability under Government regulations and judicial decisions,
however just or well founded. The total disuse, moreover, of moral
motives in the domestic relations of life, and the habit of enforcing
obedience by mere compulsion, give a harsh and peremptory
bearing in all transactions, which being met by a corresponding
tone in others (the upper classes acting and re-acting on each
other exactly as the lower), every difference of opinion constitutes
a ground of quarrel, and disunion becomes extensively prevalent.
Much, too, exists in the mere arrangements for convict discipline,
as now maintained, which fosters these lamentable results. A
constant interference of the police with private feelings and interest is
absolutely unavoidable in existing circumstances ; and the summary
and peremptory character of decisions in cases of discipline,
scarcely admitting of appeal, and practically almost always
confirmed against both convict and master (because, even if
appealed from, the reply is contingent on a report from the magis-
trate who has passed the first sentence), is alone calculated, I
think, to exasperate even mild spirits.

64. The Opinion of Captain Cheyne, Director-General of the
Roads. 1837.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, pp. xxxii-xxxiii.
P.P, 1837-8, XXII, 669.)

Now, according to my views, this [i.e. licentious state of the press,
immorality, etc.] may be for the most attributed to the transport-
ation system. The habit which most of the free contract, of thinking
and speaking of and treating the convicts contemptuously, is, by a
very natural process, extended to the whole species; and hence the
want of respect and deference to others which is so universally
manifested- Nor ought this to excite surprise. In the rank of life
from which most of them have come, they have been accustomed to
an open exhibition of their passions, many of them in the roughest
form; comparatively few of them have been trained to the first
lesson of refinement, the necessity and habit of civilitj^.

166 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

I acknoidedge that a contempt for convicts is frequently produced
by personal experience of their ingratitude, duplicity, and general
depravity^; but it is also produced, in part, by the important position
into which the great disparity between the classes raises the free,
which has a tendency to break down the distinctions conceded in
the mother country, and thus to place the whole free population
on a nearly equal footing. The contempt thus felt and expressed,
which is the active mischief, is returned by the bond by hatred;
and hence, as I have already stated, a prejudice of caste is produced,
which sets the two classes of the community in hostility to each other.
On the other hand, the free, imbued with a notion of their individual
importance, forget their relative duties, and are, more or less,
claiming superior distinction and consideration.

[Note: 1. For statistics on the convicts see Section 8, D, 17, 19, of this volume.

2. It is difBcult to say anything precise about the types of convicts sent to
Australia. All the early Governors had something to say on this subject. For
their opinions see the indexes to the first ten volumes of Series I of H.R.A. See
also G. A. Wood: "Convicts” (published in Royal Australian Historical Society
Proceedings j Vol. VIII, and M. H. Ellis: Lachlan Macquarie: Hi^ Life, Adventures,
and Times, p. 248. For the political prisoners, of whom, incidentally, there were
very few, see E. O’Brien: The Foundation oj Australia, p. 21 (for an estimate of
their numbers) and pp. 284 et seq. and pp. 320-3. For the Scottish "Martyrs”
see the Appendix to Vol. II of H.R.JV.S.W, For the "Tolpuddle Martyrs” .see
G. Loveless : Victims of Whiggery : statement of the persecutions experienced by the Dor-
chester Labourers, 2nd ed. 1837. See also H. V. Evatt: Injustice Within the Law,

3. For the contributions of the convicts to the Australian language see S,
J. Baker: The Australian Language, pp. 39-46.]

SOURCES USED FOR SECTION 3

A. Official Sources

1. Bigge, J. T. : Report of the Commissioner of Inquiry on
the State of New South Wales and its Government,
Management of Convicts, their Character and Habits,
P.P. 1822, XX, 448.

2. Further Correspondence on the Subject of Convict
Discipline and Transportation. P.P. 1853, LXXXII, 1601.

3. Historical Records of Australia, Series I and IV.

4. Historical Records of New South Wales,

5. Papers Relating to the Conduct of Magistrates in New
South Wales. P.P. 1826, XXVI, 277.

6. Proclamations, Government Orders, and Notices. Issued
by His Excellency Colonel George Arthur, 1824-5.
(Mitchell Library.)

TRANSPORTATION

167

7 . Regulations for the Custody and iVlanagemerJ of Convicts
sentenced to work in Irons on the Roads or Public Works
of the Colony. Forbes Papers. (Mitchell Libra*ry.)

8. Regulations for Ticket of Leave Holders in Van Diemen’s
Land, 1849. (Mitchell Library.)

9. Report of the Select Committee on Transportation. P.P,
1812, II, 341.

10. Report of the Select Committee on the State of the Gaols.
P.P. 1819, VII, 575.

11. Report of the Select Committee on Secondary Punish-
ments. P.P. 1831, VII, 276,

12. Report of the Select Committee on Secondary Punish-
ments, P.P. 1831-2, VII, 547.

13. Report of the Select Committee on Transportation. P.P.
1837, XIX, 518.

14. Report of the Select Committee on Transportation. P.P.
1837-8, XXII, 669.

15. Rules and Regulations for the Management of the Female
Convicts in the New Factory at Parramatta^ 1821. (Mitchell
Library.)

16. Standing Instructions for the Discipline and Control of Convicts
employed in the Road Department in Van Diemen^s Land.
Hobart, 1837. (Mitchell Library.)

17. Statutes at Large.

18. Sydney Gazette.

19. Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Council of New South
Wales. 1838.

Other Primary Sources

1 . Anonymous : Defence of the Prisoner Population of Van
Diemen^ s Land by a Prisoner of the Crown. Hobart, 1847.

2. Anonymous: A Remarkable Narrative: or the Punishment of
Transportation Explained etc. Undated. (Broadsheet in
Mitchell Library.)

3. Appeal by the New South Wales Council oj the Australasian
League, 1851. (Mitchell Library.)

4. Arthur, Cdlonel George: Observations upon Secondary
Punishment; to which is added a letter upon the same
subject by the Archdeacon of New South Wales, Hobart
Town, 1833.

5. Bonwick Transcripts, (Mitchell Library.)

168 SELECT DOOUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

6. Cutmingham, P. : Two Tears in New South Wales. 2 vols.
3rd edition. 1828.

7. Fifln, E.: Chronicles of Early Melbourne. 2 vols. 1888.

8. Fry, H. A System of Penal Discipline. 1850.

9. Haslam, J. : Narrative of a Voyage to New South Wales. 1816.

10. Hobler Manuscripts. Volume III. (Mitchell Library.)

11. Johnson, Reverend Richard: An Address to the Inhabitants
of the Colonies established in New South Wales and Norfolk
island. 1792.

12. Maconochie, Captain A.: Norfolk Island. 1847.

13. Mudie, J.: The Felonry of New South Wales. 1837.

14. Papers of the Anti-Transportation Leagues of the various
Colonies. (MSS. in Mitchell Library.)

15. Therry, R. : ReminUcences of Thirty Tears' Residence in New
South Wales and Victoria. 1863.

16. Whately, Archbishop R.: ‘‘Transportation”. Published
in Miscellaneous Lectures and Reviews. 1861.

Section 4

IMMIGRATION

Between 1825 and 1851 nearly three million people migrated
from Great Britain to the New World. (For more details see
the chart in Appendix 1 of this section.) The main reasons for
this mass migration were the social conditions in Great Britain.
As early as 1830 settlers in the Australian colonies were anxious
to attract some of these people to Australia to replace the
convicts as workers. To establish a satisfactory stream of
migrants they had to achieve three things: first, to make
migration to Australia at least as cheap, and, if possible,
cheaper than migration to North America. This would ensure
the numbers; second, to ensure that the quality of the workers
was good; third, that they would remain workers for some
years after their arrival. The documents in this section illustrate
the social conditions in Great Britain, the labour problem in
Australia, and the migration schemes adopted to meet the needs
of both societies. For convenience, migration to Eastern Aust-
ralia is dealt with in a separate section from migration to
South Australia. Perhaps some explanation should be made for
ignoring Western Australia almost entirely. The fact is that
migration there was almost negligible: indeed, so much so,
that the colonists themselves requested the British Government
to send them convicts for workers. (For the document see
Section 7, C, 32 of this volume.)

The section begins with a chronological summary of
immigration.

1. IMMIGRATION INTO EASTERN AUSTRALIA

A. Potential Migrants
from Great Britain.

B. The Labour Problem
in the Australian Colo-
nies.

C. The Ideas of the Sys-
tematic Colonizers.

D. Government Assis-
tance for Migrants.

E. The Selection of Mig-
rants.

F. The Reception of Mig-
rants.

170 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

11. SOUTH AUSTRALIA

G. The Foimdation. Appendix —

H. The Selection of Mig- 1. Statistics on Migration from

rants. the United Kingdom, 1825-51.

I. Early History of the 2. Statistics on Migration to

Colony. Van Diemen’s Land, 1830-50.

I. IMMIGRATION INTO EASTERN AUSTRALIA, 1829-50

1S29. Publication of A Letter Jrom Sydney by E. G. Wakefield.

1831. Revenue from land fund to be used for loans to migrants.
Appointment of the Emigration Commissioners.

1832. Departure of first ship carrying assisted female migrants.

1833. Publication of England and America by E. G. Wakefield.
1835. Loans to migrants to be replaced by free passages.

Governor Bourke suggests the bounty system. [tion.

1838. Appointment of T. F. Elliott as Agent General for Emigra-

1840. Appointment of Colonial Land and Emigration Com-
missioners.

1841. Suspension of government and bounty migration.

1843. Resumption of assistance to migrants.

1845. Suspension of assistance to migrants.

1847. Resumption of assistance to migrants.

11. SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1833-50

1833. Formation of South Australian Association.

1834. Act of British Parliament to create the colony of South
Australia. 4 & 5 Will. IV, c. 95.

1835. Appointment of South Australian Commissioners.
Formation of South Australian Company.

1836. Colonists arrive at Kangaroo Island.

Proclamation of colony of South Australia.

1840. Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners assume
work of South Australian Commissioners.

1843. Invention of wheat threshers by J. W. Bull and J. Ridley,

1. IMMIGRATION INTO EASTERN AUSTRALIA, 1829-50
A. Potential Migrants From Great Britain

!• Surplus Population in Great Britain. 1825 c.

(First Report of Select Committee on Emigration from the United
Kingdom, p. 3. P.P. 1826, IV, 404.)

That there are extensive- districts in Ireland, and districts in
England and Scotland, where the population is at the present
moment redundant; in other words, where there exists a very

IMMIGRATION

171

considerable proportion of able-bodied and active labourers,
beyond that number to which any existing demand fomabour can
afford employment: — That the effect of this redundancy is not
only to reduce a part of this population to a great degree of dest-
itution and misery, but also to deteriorate the general condition
of the labouring classes : — That by its producing a supply of labour
in excess as compared with the demand, the wages of labour are
necessarily reduced to a minimum, which is utterly insufficient to
supply that population with those means of support and subsis^nce
which are necessary to secure a healthy and satisfactory condition
of the Community: — That in England, this redundant population
has been in part supported by a parochial rate, which, according
to the Reports and Evidence of former Committees specially
appointed to consider the subject, threatens in its extreme tendency
to absorb the whole rental of the Country; and that in Ireland,
where no such parochial rate exists by law, and where the
redundancy is found in a still greater degree, a considerable part of
the population is dependent for the means of support on the
precarious source of charity, or is compelled to resort to habits of
plunder and spoliation for the actual means of subsistence.

That in the British Colonies in North America ... at the Cape of
Good Hope, and in New South Wales, and Van Diemen’s Land,
there are tracts of unappropriated land of the most fertile quality,
capable of receiving and subsisting any proportion of the redundant
population of this country, for whose conveyance thither, means
could be found at any time, present or future.

[Note: For examples of redundant population see the evidence ol T. L.
Hodges to the same Committee.]

2. Poverty in Rural Areas. 1830 c.

(W. Cobbett: Rural Rides, Vol, II, p. 266.)

Look at these hovels, made of mud and of straw; bits of glass,
or of old off-cast windows, without frames or hinges frequently,
but merely stuck in the mud w^alL Enter them, and look at the bits
of chairs or stools; the wretched boards tacked together to serve for
a table; the floor of pebble, broken brick, or of the bare ground;
look at the thing called a bed; and survey the rags on the backs of
the wretched inhabitants; and then wonder if you can that the
gaols and dungeons and treadmills increase, and that a standing army
and barracks are become the favourite establishments of England!

[Note: 1. For a moving description of the rural poor see E. G. Wakefield:
England and America, Vol. 11, pp. 47-51. ^ ^

2. The economic condition of the middle classes in Great Britain from 1815-50
needs investigation. There is some evidence that for some of them at least migra-
tion was the onlv way of retaining their position in society. It seems probable
that some of the men who became wealthy squatters in Australia belonged to

172 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

this group. See, for examplej P. Brown: Narrative of George Russell, p. 37. See
also E. G.*^Wakefieid: The New British Province of South Australia 'i E. G. Wake-
field: England and America, Vol. I, pp. 86-106, and the evidence of W. F. Campbell
to the Select Committee on Emigration from the United Kingdom, P.P. 1826,
IV, 404, p. 471 et seq,]

3. Tke Poverty of the Irish Peasants. 1825 c.

(Ev. of the Rt Rev. Bishop of Limerick to Select Committee on
Emigration from the United Kingdom, p. 144. P.P, 1826, IV, 404.)

yhe existing state of things is truly frightful; when tenantry (the
under-tenants of under-tenants) are dispossessed, after a season of
patient suffering, they go into some other district, perhaps a
peaceable- one; there they fail not to find friends, clansmen and
tellow factionaries, whom they bring back with them by night, to
avenge their cause ; it is avenged in blood ; and, where occasion offers,
the service is repaid in kind. Thus, the whole country is set in flames.
This will be quite intelligible to those who know the system of
mutual understanding that pervades the districts I may say, of each
province. I will mention one instance that came within my know-
ledge. ... It was the case of the dispossessed tenantry of an estate.
They were certainly surreptitious; they had, also, not paid their
rent. They were, at length, suddenly and simultaneously dispos-
sessed; they were in the most deplorable state, without house,
without food, without money; starving, and almost dying, in the
ditches. I saw an affecting memorial on their behalf, praying that
the proprietor on whose estate they had been, would procure for
them the privilege and means of emigration. They had, to my
knowledge, been exemplary in peaceableness, amidst surrounding
disturbance. But, from want perhaps rather of power than of will,
their petition was not granted. I ventured to predict that if they
were not in some way relieved, the consequences in the winter would
be dreadful. And so they were. They brought their friends, just in
the way I have been describing, from other districts. Blood followed 1
afterwards, prosecutions, convictions, executions.

Now, though it be true, that emigration could not at mce take
away all that may be burthensome to the country, though it could
not even finally do so, it would give relief to many^ and hope to all.
At present they are in a state of hopeless, despairing recklessness ;
therefore they scruple not the worst. Give them hope, and they will
endure; particularly if it is known that good character will be a
recommendation.

4. Need for Migration from Ireland. 1825 c.

(Second Report of Select Committee on Emigration from the
United Kingdom, p. 7. P.P. 1826-7, V, 88.)

It is vain to hope for any permanent and extensive advantage

IMMIGRATION

173

from any system of Emigration which does not primarily ilpply to
Ireland; whose Population, unless some other outlet be opened to
them, must shortly fill up every vacuum created in Englanti or in
Scotland, and reduce the labouring classes to a uniform state of
degradation and misery.

B. The Labour Problem in the Australian Colonies

5. The Difficulty of Preventing the Free Worker from becom-
ing a Landowner, 1829 c.

(E. G. Wakefield: A Letter from Sydney^ loc. cit.)

My own man, who had served me for eight years in England,
and had often sworn that he would go the wide world over with me,
seeing that I was the best of masters, never reached my new abode.
He had saved about £1^0 in my service; and I had advised him to
take the money out of a London Savings’ Bank, under an idea
that he might obtain ten per cent for it at Sydney. He followed my
advice. About a month after our arrival I missed him one morning.
Before night I received a letter, by which he informed me that he
had taken a grant of land near Hunter’s River, and that he ‘‘hoped
we parted friends”. He is now one of the most consequential persons
in the Colony, has grown enormously fat, feeds upon greasy
dainties, drinks oceans of bottled porter and port wine, damns the
Governor, and swears by all his gods, Jupiter, Jingo, and Old
Harry, that this Colony must soon be independent (p. 10).

. . . Upon the whole, when once an indented labourer becomes
dissatisfied the sooner his bond is cancelled the better for the master.
But what the master loses by the cost of the labourer’s passage from
England is not the whole loss. The once indented labourer obtains
six shillings a day; saves half his earnings; obtains a grant of land;
and becomes an employer of labour, and a competitor with his
late master in the market of industry. This, of course, raises the
price of labour to all. So that a large importation of indented
labourers may very soon have an effect directly contrary to its
purpose (p. 15).

6. Tbe Labour Problem, 1838.

(Gipps to Glenelg, 1 May 1838. H.R.A, I, 19, p. 401.)

The public mind seems most fixed at the present moment on the
subjects of Assignment, Transportation, and Immigration, or in
other words on the means of obtaining labor. That the sudden
withdrawal of Assigned servants would be fatal to the prosperity
of the Colony, seems to be the impression of nearly everyone; and
I must confess that I cannot help, in great measure, ^partaking in

174 SELECT £>0CUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

this opinion, although there is not as I believe your Lordship is
aware, any bias in my mind in favor of forced labor.

So long as the demand for labor, created by the influx of
Capitalists, continues at the present rate, the supply afforded by
means of Immigration alone must I think be found deficient.

There are men, who looking rather to their own immediate
wants than to the ultimate good of the Country are desirous either
to^rvConfine within very narrow limits the number of women and
children to be brought out in Emigrant ships, or to seek for a supply
from India or from China; and a meeting on this subject is, I
believe, to be held in Sydney on the 25th instant. I am very happy
that I have received your Lordships instructions on the subject
of Immigration from India, as this means of supplying labor would,
if carried to any extent, be fraught in my opinion with evils of the
highest magnitude.

7. A Complaint on the Shortage of Labour. 1843.

(Report of Committee on Immigration, pp. 1-2. V. and P. of the
Legis, Com, ofjY.S.W. 1843.)

. . . That the present supply of agricultural and pastoral labour is
far from being adequate to the wants of the Colony; that the rate
of wages is beyond what the master can, from the amount of profits,
afford to give; and that the demand for pastoral labour is progres-
sively on the increase. The periodical additions made to the flocks
and herds of the Colony by natural increase from breeding, demand
a corresponding accession to the number of labourers employed in
taking charge of them. The annual addition of shepherds thus
required cannot be less than 20 per cent, on the whole number
previously engaged in the same occupation. . . .

Could labour be obtained at rates commensurate with the profits
arising from the growth of wool, the increase of the flocks would
still go on; fresh districts for depasturing be opened up; the annual
exported produce of the Colony enlarged; and its general wealth
and resources in a corresponding degree augmented.

It may be suggested, that, in order to realize* such results, wages
must be reduced to a rate for which it could not reasonably be
expected that persons would be induced to emigrate from the
mother country, or that could be regarded as a fair equivalent to
the labouring immigrant, for the risk and privations of his voyage
hither.

Your Committee have directed their enquiries, with a view of
eliciting the opinions of witnesses as to the rate of wages the flock-
master can paj, with a due regard to his own interest and the
■nrrvfit^i investment of capital. Were wages for shepherds reduced

IMMIGRATION 175

to an average of from ^^10 to £12 per annum, exciusi\4 of, and
in addition to, lodging, fuel, and liberal rations, your Committee
believe, that the profits arising from the growth of wool would
be sufficient to supersede the practice now had recourse to,
either of ceasing to breed stock, or of boiling down the surplus
increase; and no sooner would profit be annexed to the pursuit
of grazing, than the staple of the Colony (its flocks) would acquire
a marketable value, and an impulse and activity be again commun-
icated to colonial enterprise.

8. The Consequences of Unsystematic Colonization. 1836.

(Ev. of E. G. Wakefield to Select Committee on Disposal of Lands in
British Colonies, pp. 53-4. P.P. 1836, XI, 512.)

[Note : This is special pleading. For an account of the early history of Swan
River by eye-witnesses see Section 2, H, 55 of this volume.]

The many disasters which befel this colony (for some people did
actually die of hunger), and the destruction of the colony taken out
to the Swan River, and the second emigration of the people who
went out, appear to me to be accounted for at once by the manner
in which land was granted. The first grant consisted of 500,000
acres to an individual, Mr. Peel. That grant was marked out upon
the map in England — 500,000 acres were taken round about the
port or landing-place. It was quite impossible for Mr, Peel to
cultivate 500,000 acres, or a hundredth part of the grant, but
others were of course necessitated to go beyond his grant; in order
to take their land. So that the first operation in that colony was to
create a great desert, to mark out a large tract of land, and to say,
“this is a desert — no man shall come here; no man shall cultivate
this land”. So far dispersion was produced, because upon the terms
on which Mr. Peel obtained his land, land was given to the others.
The Governor took another 100,000 acres, another person took
80,000 acres; and the dispersion was so great that, at last, the
settlers did not know where they were; that is, each settler knew
that he was where he was but he could not tell where anyone else
was; and, therefore he did not know his own position. That was
why some people died of hunger; for though there was an ample
supply of food at the governor’s house, the settlers did not know
where the governor was, and the governor did not know where
the settlers were. Then, beside the evils resulting from dispersion,,
there occurred what I consider almost a greater one; which is,
the separation of the people and the want of combinable labour.
The labourers, on finding out that land could be obtained with
the greatest facility, the labourers taken out under contracts, under
engagements which assured them of very high wages if they would

176 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

labour dulmg a certain time for wages, immediately laughed at
their masters. Mr. Peel carried out altogether about 300 persons,
men, wonlen and children. Of those 300 persons, about 60 were
able labouring men. In six months after his arrival he had nobody
even to make his bed for him or to fetch him water from the river.
He was obliged to make his own bed and to fetch water for himself,
and to light his own fire. All the labourers had left him. The capital,
therefore, which he took out, viz., implements of husbandry, seeds
and stock, especially stock, immediately perished ; without shepherds
to take care of the sheep, the sheep wandered and were lost; eaten
by the native dogs, killed by the natives and by some of the other
colonists, very likely by his own workmen; but they were destroyed;
his seeds perished on the beach; his houses were of no use; his
wooden houses were there in frame, in pieces, but could not be put
together, and were therefore quite useless and rotted on the beach.
This was the case with the capitalists generally. The labourers,
obtaining land very readily, and running about to fix upon locations
for themselves, and to establish themselves independently, very
soon separated themselves into isolated families, into what may be
termed cottiers, with a very large extent of land, something like
the Irish cottiers, but having, instead of a very small piece of land,
a large extent of land. Everyone was separated, and very soon fell
into the greatest distress. Falling into the greatest distress, they
returned to their masters, and insisted upon the fulfilment of the
agreements upon which they had gone out; but then Mr. Peel said,
^‘All my capital is gone; you have ruined me by deserting me, by
breaking your engagements ; and you now insist upon my observing
the engagements when you yourselves have deprived me of the
means of doing so’’. They wanted to hang him, and he ran away
to a distance, where he secreted himself for a time till they were
carried off to Van Diemen’s Land, where they obtained food, and
where, by the way, land was not obtainable by any means with so
great facility as at the Swan River.

G. The Ideas of the Systematic Colonizers

9. The Sufficient Price will Deter Labourers from Becoming

Landowners*

(E. G. Wakefield: The Art of Colonisation, loc. cit.)

The mere putting of a price ... on all new land may accomplish
none of the objects in view. In order to accomplish them, the price
must be sufficient for that purpose. But the price may be low or
high ... or it might be a just medium between the two, occasioning
neither superabifndance of people nor superabundance of land, but

IMMIGRATION

177

so limiting the quantity of land, as to give the cheapest land a
market value that would have the effect of compelling ^bourers to
work some considerable time for wages before they could become
landowners. A price that did less than this, would be irtsufficient;
one that did more, would be excessive : the price that would do this
and no more, is the proper price. I am used to call it the sufficient
price (pp. 207-8).

There is but one object of a price and about that there can be no
mistake. The sole object of a price, is to prevent labourers fe'om
turning into landowners too soon: the price must be sufficient for
that one purpose and no other (p, 212).

10, Another Function of the Sufficient Price.

(E. G. Wakefield: A Letter from Sydney^ pp. 77-8).

In all new countries the government alone has the power to
dispose of waste land. Not that a Government would, any where,
prevent the cultivation of mere waste; but nobody would cultivate
it without a title; the government alone can give a secure title; and
it is, therefore, impossible to use waste land without the active
assistance of government. Does it not follow that the government
might, by restricting the amount of grants, establish and maintain
the. most desirable proportion between people and territory?
The answer appears to me so clear and unquestionable, that I will
not detain you by any argument concerning it. The proportion
between people and territory does, in new countries, depend
altogether upon the will of the government. Every new government,
therefore, possesses the power to civilize its subjects.

But supposing the will to exist, in addition to the power, what
would be the proper amount of restriction? An insufficient restric-
tion would be but a partial good, and an excessive restriction would
produce, more or less, those terrible evils which, in some old
countries, arise from an excess of people in proportion to territory.
Where are we to find the just medium ? The answer appears to me
to be plain and satisfactory. As a wise man eats just as much as will
keep him in the best health, but no more: so a wise government
would grant just enough land to enable the people to exert their
utmost capacity for doubling themselves, but no more. It is needless
to enlarge upon this mere truism. But the wisest government must
have to invent some rule, by which to measure out the due increase
of land according to the increase of people; for it is not enough to
say that the land ought to be doubled in quantity, as often as the
people should double in number. As the people would increase
gradually, so must the quantity of land be augmented by degrees.
How, then, might the gradual increase of land be so regulated as to

178 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

be neither inadequate nor excessive ? By, it appears to me, requiring
a paymeAt in money for the title to waste land, that is, by selling
grants of land, instead of bestowing them gratis, — instead of per-
suading people to accept of them. . . . Still, how is the proper price
to be ascertained? I frankly confess that I do not know. I believe
that it could be determined only by experience ; but this I do know
— that if nine farthings per acre should check the natural increase
of people, by causing a scarcity of well-paid employment, it would be
too much; and that, if ninety pounds per acre should not promote
the greatest increase of wealth and civilization, by maintaining a
constant supply of the demand for well-paid labour, it would be
too little.

11. How to Fix the Sufficient Price.

(E. G. Wakefield: The Art of Colonisation^ p. 213.)

The question is, what price would have that one effect? That
must depend, first, on what is meant by ‘‘too soon”; or on the
proper duration of the term of the labourer’s employment for hire;
which again must depend on the rate of the increase of population
in the colony, especially by means of immigration, which would
determine when the place of a labourer, turning into a landowner,
would be filled by another labourer: and the rate of labour-emigra-
tion again must depend on the popularity of the colony at home,
and on the distance between the mother-country and the colony,
or the cost of passage for labouring people. Secondly, what price
would have the desired effect, must depend on the rate of wages
and cost of living in the colony; since according to these would be
the labourer’s power of saving the requisite capital for turning into
a landowner : in proportion to the rate of wages and the cost of living,
would the requisite capital be saved in a longer or a shorter time.
It depends, thirdly, on the soil and climate of the colony, which
would determine the quantity of land required (on the average) by
a labourer in order to set himself up as a landowner; if the soil
and climate were unfavourable to production, he would require
more acres ; if it were favourable, fewer acres would serve his purpose :
In Trinidad, for example, 10 acres would support him well; in
South Africa or New South Wales, he might require 50 or 100 acres.
But the variability in our wide colonial empire, not only of soil
and climate, but of ail the circumstances on which a sufficient
price would depend, is so obvious, that no examples of it are needed.
It follows of course that different colonies, and sometimes different
groups of similar colonies, would require different prices. To name
a price for all the colonies, would be as absurd as to fix the size of a
coat for mankind.

IMMIGRATION

179

12. Wlio Should Fix the Sufficient Price?

(f) Wakefield's Criticism of the Methods Used, iSji-6

(Ev. of E. G. Wakefield to Select Committee on Disposal of Lands

in British Colonies, p. 71. P.P. 1836, XI, 512.) **

. . . the same authority which established the plan in New South
Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, may overturn it tomorrow, or some
other authority may do so. Lord Ripon established the plan of
selling there. . . . Whether it had been good or bad, Lord Ripon
alone had the power of establishing it. Since then. Lord Stanley
has had the same power; Mr. Spring Rice has had the same power;
Lord Aberdeen has had the same power ; Lord Glenelg has had the
same power ; and in the course of five years more, five other persons
may have the power of overturning, by a stroke of their pen, the
regulations . . . made by their predecessors. The extreme uncertainty
therefore of the system, the w^ant of anything like a character of
permanence, appears to me to render it extremely defective.

(ii) Wakefield's Opinion on How it Should be Done

(Ev. of E. G. Wakefield to Select Committee on Disposal of Lands

in British Colonies, p. 77. P.P. 1836, XI, 512.)

Mr. Poulett Scrope: Then the Committee understand that you
would have the Legislature lay down as a guide to the commissioners
the principle of affixing a sufficient price upon waste land, and
maintaining that price which shall prevent too great a facility in
the obtaining of land, with a view to keeping wages at a just elevation,
to securing the development of industry, to developing the resources
of the colony in the most favourable and in the most rapid manner,
and to the securing the other general objects of a good system of
colonization? . . .

E. G. Wakefield: I have proposed that Parliament should confide
that rather difficult task to a special and responsible authority,
who should have nothing else to do; who should be selected on
account of thetir knowledge, fitness and ability, to do that which
I believe Parliament is incompetent to do well.

13. Use of Land Fund to Pay Passages of Migrants.

(E. G. Wakefield: The Art of Colonisation, pp. 230-1.)

The question arises then, what should be done with the money
produced by the sufficient price. And in the whole art of colon-
ization, there is no question of more importance.

The putting of money into the colonial exchequer would not have
been designed by the government. The getting of money by the
government would be a result of selling land instead of giving it
away; but as the only object of selling instead of giving is one totally

180 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

distinct from Chat of producing revenue — namely, to prevent
laboure|§ from turning into landowners too soon — the pecuniary
result would be unintended, one might almost say unexpected.
So completely is production of revenue a mere incident of the
price of land, that the price ought to be imposed, if it ought to be
imposed under any circumstances, even though the purchase
money were thrown away. This last proposition is the sharpest
test to which the theory of a sufficient price can be submitted;
but if it will not stand this test — if the proposition is not true
—the theory is false. Assuming it not to be false, the money arising
from the sale of land is a fund raised without a purpose, unavoidable,
incidentally, almost accidentally. It is a fund, therefore, without
a destination. There would be no undertaking, no tacit obligation
even, on the part of the government to dispose of the fund in
any particular way. It is an unappropriated fund, which the
state or government may dispose of as it pleases without injustice
to anybody. If the fund were applied to paying off the public
debt of the empire, nobody could complain of injustice, because
every colony as a whole, and the buyers of land in particular,
would still enjoy all the intended and expected benefits of the
imposition of a sufficient price upon new land: if the fund were
thrown into the sea as it accrued, there would still be no injustice,
and no reason against producing the fund in that way.

If this reasoning is correct, the government would be at liberty
to cast about for the most beneficial mode of disposing of the fund.
Upon that point, I do not pretend to offer an opinion: but if the
object were the utmost possible increase of the population, wealth,
and greatness of our empire, then I can have no doubt that the
revenue accruing from the sale of waste land, would be called an
emigration-fund, and be expended in conveying poor people of the
labouring class from the mother country to the colonies. Let us see
what would be the principal effects of that disposition of the
purchase-money of waste land.

14. How to Select Migrants.

(E. G. Wakefield: A Letter from Sydney^ pp, 84-5.)

To check this too rapid increase of people in Britain^ it would be
advisable to select as emigrants young persons only, and especially
young couples of both sexes. The Domestic power of increase would
thereby be greatly weakened, and the Colonial power of increase
would be strengthened in the same degree. The object is, to reduce,
as much as the system would allow, the population of the emigrating
country and to increase, as much as possible, that of the immigrating
countries. The propriety of such a selection is, therefore, evident.

IMMIGRATION

181

But there are additional reasons ‘for it. Firsl;, it would prevent,
altogether, the evils which, here especially, and mor^or less in ail
modern new colonies, have arisen from the disproportion between
the sexes. Secondly, young men would be more willing than old
ones to make the venture of emigration; and both young men and
young women would prefer crossing the world in couples to
migrating singly only across the Channel. Thirdly, young persons
of both sexes would most readily accommodate their habits to a
new climate, and embrace new modes of cultivation and general
labour. Lastly, having families to rear, they would be more ?ndust-
rious than older persons, and probably more apt to save a part of
their earnings ; whereby they would promote a more rapid increase
of colonial capital — of the demand for more land and more labour
— of the demand for more young couples, and of the means for
obtaining them. In a word, they would make the best members of
a new society.

[Note; 1. For Wakefield’s opinions on the government of colonies see his
essay, “Sir Charles Metcalfe in Canada”, published in E. M. Wrong: Charles
Buller and Responsible Government,

2. The effect of his ideas on British policy can be seen in the following: (a)
Land sales. See Section 5, B of this volume, {h) The recommendations of the
Select Committee on the Disposal of Lands in the British Colonies. See pp. iv-v
of the Report, P.P. 1836, XI, 512. (c) The appointment of the Colonial Land
and Emigration Commissioners, 1840. (d) The decision to create a colony in
South Australia. For a comment on his effects on British policy see R. C. Mills:
The Colonization of Austmlia^ 1829-42, Chs 7-10.]

D. Government Assistance for Migrants

15. The British Government Accepts Wakefield’s Arguments.
1831.

(Goderich to Darling, 9 January 1831. H.R.A, I, 16, pp. 20-1.)

[Note: In the concluding section of this dispatch Goderich announces the
intention of the British Government to introduce land sales in Australia. For
this, see Section 5, B, 6 of this volume.]

. . . considering Emigration as a means of relieving the Mother
Country, it is quite clear that no such relief can possibly be afforded
by the mere removal of Capitalists; that it is the emigration of the
unemployed British Labourers, which would be of real and essential
service; while I think it also appears that this would be the most
useful class of Emigrants, even as regards the Colony, from the
extreme difficulty which is now complained of in obtaining
Labourers, and the competition for the serwce of Convicts; together
with the glut which so frequently takes place of Agricultural
produce at the price at which, under the present system, it can be
afforded. The latter circumstance seems likewise to prove that a

182 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

mere extension of cfaltivation is much less desirable than is generally
supposed, lyheatj it appears^ is sometimes at so high a price as
i4s. 9d. a Bushel in Sydney, a price which even in this country
would be deemed extravagant. Indeed I believe the average price
of Wheat in Sydney Market would be found equal to that, which it
bears in Great Britain, and yet the want of demand for their
produce is to the Colonists a subject of loud and frequent complaint.
These two apparently inconsistent evils of a high price and of a want
of demand lead me to believe that cultivation has been too widely
exterfded, and that it would have been more for the interests of the
Colony, if the Settlers, instead of spreading themselves over so great
an extent of territory, had rather applied themselves to the more
effectual improvemeni and cultivation of a narrower surface.
With concert and mutual assistance, the result of the same labour
would probably have been a greater amount of produce; and the
cost of transporting it to market would have been a less heavy item
in the total cost of production. A different course however has been
pursued, chiefly, as it appears, owing to the extreme facility of
acquiring land, by which every man has been encouraged to become
a Proprietor, producing what he can by his own unassisted efforts.
If these views be correct, what is now required is to check this
extreme facility, and to encourage the formation of a class of
labourers for hire, as the only means of creating a Market for the
Agricultural produce of the Colony, of effecting various improve-
ments, and of prosecuting the many branches of industry which are
now neglected, while at the same time, by enabling the Agriculturist
to apply the great principle of the division of labour, his produce
will be encreased and afforded at a more reasonable rate.

16. The British Government Begins to Assist Female
Migrants. 1831.

(Goderich to Bourke, 28 September 1831. H,R,A. I, 16, pp. 378-9.)

In consequence of the representations which I have received
from various quarters of the evils resulting from the great dispro-
portion of the Female to the Male Population in the Colony under
your Government, I have been led seriously to consider what means
might be adopted for supplying the deficiency of Females, which is
so much complained of.

The enquiries, which I have instituted, have convinced me that
there are, in England and especially in the Agricultural Counties,
many young women, who, having been brought up in such a
manner as to qualify them to discharge the duties of Servants in the
families of a farmer, are unable in this country to procure such
situations or to gain an honest livelihood, and who would, therefore.

IMMIGRATION

183

gladly avail themselves of an opportunity of emigrating to a Colony
in which they could rely upon finding the means doing so.
In New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, all acccnmts concur
in stating that such persons would without difficulty fipd eligible
situations, and that their arrival would be very acceptable to the
Settlers, who seem to be almost entirely unprovided with Female
Servants. The friends of many young Women of the above descrip-
tion would (unless I am greatly deceived) willingly afford them some
assistance in order to place them in a situation of permanent
comfort in the- Colonies. They have not hitherto attempted to do so,
chiefly because they have been deterred by the heavy expense of so
long a voyage, and because there has been no Party to whom they
could apply to undertake all the necessary arrangements and to
whose care they could safely confide unprotected Females.

The appointment of the Commission for facilitating Emigration
. . . will, I trust, abate the latter difficulty; and, in order to remove
the former one, I directed a communication to be addressed to the
Lords Commissioners of the Treasury requesting their Lordships’
sanction for applying to the assistance of Female Emigrants so much
of the Territorial Revenue of the Australian Colonies as arises from
the sale of land.

17, Incentives for Female Migrants. 1833.

(Broadsheet in Mitchell Library.)

NOTICE

YOUNG WOMEN

Desirous of bettering their condition by an Emigration to

New South Wales.

In New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land there are very
few women compared with the whole number of people, so that
it is impossible to get women enough as Female Servants or for
other Female Employments. The consequence is, that desirable
situations, with good wages, are easily obtained by Females in
those Countries; but the Passage is so long that few can pay the
expence of it without help. There is now, however, the following
favourable opportunity of going to New South Wales.

The Committee has been formed in London for the purpose of
facilitating Emigration, which intends to send out a Ship in the
course of the Spring, ‘ expressly for the conveyance of Female
Emigrants, under an experienced and respectable Man and his
Wife, who have been engaged as Superintendents. The parties who
go in that Vessel must be Unmarried Women or Widows; must be

184 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

between the ages of^i8 and jo; and must be of good health and character.
They mu^ also be able to pay £6 towards the expense of their Passage.
The remainder of the expense will be paid by the Society. Every
arrangement will be made for the comfort of the Emigrants during
the voyage; and Medical Assistance provided: they will also be
taken care of on their first landing in the Colonies; and they will
find there, ready for them, a list of the different situations to be
obtained, and of the wages offered, so that they may at once see the
different opportunities of placing themselves. The women sent
out^in this manner will not be bound to any person whatsoever,
but will be, to all intents and purposes. Free Women.

Persons who, on reading this Notice, may desire to emigrate
in the manner pointed out, should apply by Letter to the
"Emigration Committee, 18, Aldermanbury, London’’. If the
Letter be sent by General Post, it should be sent under a cover
addressed to "The Under Secretary of State, Colonial Department,
London”. It will be proper that the Application should be
accompanied by recommendations from the Resident Minister of
the Parish, and from any other respectable persons to whom the
Applicant may be known; the same recommendations should
state the fact that the Applicant will be able to pay £6^ when she
shall receive notice that it is time to embark.

All Applications made in the foregoing manner, will be answered ;
and it is requested that Parties will apply without delay, as the
fine teak-built ship, "Bussorah Merchant”, 530 tons burthen, now
in the London Docks, is appointed to sail on the 13th April next
expressly with Female Emigrants selected by the Committee.

Parties who may be desirous to obtain information by personal
application in the city, may have further particulars from Mr.
THOMAS HURT, 18, Aldermanbury, or from Mr. Hoskins, the
Superintendent, 17, Warwick Square, Newgate Street; where
arrangements are made for the temporary reception of Young
Women who may not have other convenient places of residence
in London.

[Signed] EDWARD FOSTER, Chairman.

Committee Room,

18, Aldermanbury.

26th Feb. 1833.

18. Government To Pay Passage of Some Migrants. 1835.

(t) For Females,

(Aberdeen to Bourke, 17 February 1835. H,R,A, I, 17, p. 667.)

The System, hitherto acted upon, of providing a portion only of
the expense of the passage, and requiring each Female to find the

IMMIGRATION

185

remainder, either by the payment of on embarking^/ or giving
a promissory Note for the payment of ^6 on her arrival in the
Colony, has for the reasons stated by the Committee htm super-
seded, and another arrangement substituted, by which the whole
of the expense of the passage will be defrayed at the cost of the
Public in the following proportion, vizt: — nine pounds for each
Emigrant on the departure of the vessel from this Country, and
eight pounds on the arrival of the Ship in the Colony, either in
Specie or Treasury Bills at the option of the Governor, accormng
to the arrangment which, as you were* informed in my Despatch
of the 20th December, 1834, would in future be made upon that
subject with the Owners of Vessels engaged to convey Emigrants
to the Colonies,

(n) For Agricultural Labourers and Mechanics.

(Glenelg to Bourke, 20 June 1835. H.R.A. I, 17, p. 739.)

Having duly considered your representation of the want of
Agricultural Laborers and Mechanics in the Colony, and of the
consequent difficulty which you have experienced in procuring a
number of Mechanics sufficient for carrying on the Public Works
without withdrawing them from the service of Private Individuals
and embarrassing their operations, I have now to acquaint you
that, in order to afford a stimulus to the emigration of those Classes
of Persons, His Majesty’s Government have come to a resolution to
convert the Loan of ;£’20, which has hitherto been made to young
married Mechanics and Agricultural Laborers, into a free bounty
of the same amount. Considering also the extreme difficulty, which
you have experienced in recovering such Loans, and the mischief
which would evidently result from an attempt to enforce repayment
by Legal Process, it has also been determined to remit any claims
to the repayment of Loans to Emigrants which may still remain
unliquidated.

19, Governor Bourke Proposes the Bounty System* 1835.

(Bourke to Glenelg, 14 October 1835. H.R.A. I, 18, pp. 162-3.)

I would propose also to offer to those Settlers, who have the means,
and would prefer to engage by their own Agents Mechanics or
Agricultural Laborers, a bounty equal or nearly equal to the
expence of the passage of such persons, provided they are of the
Ages and descriptions specified in a Governmt. notice to be issued
for the purpose, and shall be passed by a Board appointed to
examine such Persons upon their arrival. This offer will embrace
married couples under thirty years of age and their families, and
unmarried females between 15 and 30 years who* shall come out

186 SELECT DCGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

under the detection of the married couples as forming part of the
Family and destined to remain with it until otherwise provided for;
and single^'men between 18 and 25 in the same numbers as the
unmarried Females last ment’d. I consider an arrangement of this
sort presents the cheapest and most desirable mode of encouraging
the Immigration of useful persons. It is clear that the Settlers will
import none but those of whose services they are in want, and thus
all ^prehension of a glut in any particular line of business is
removed. The expence of Agency in selecting, and the maintenance
of the Immigrants from their first landing until they obtain Employ-
ment, is saved to the Public, whilst the character of those obtained
by private Agency is not likely to be inferior to the character of
those brought out by the Agents of Government. It is, however,
improbable that the majority of Settlers requiring labor can afford
to incur the expence of Agency, or have funds to advance for the
passage of Tradesmen or Servants, though they would be able to
hire them on yearly wages when brought out at the public charge.
The arrangement, therefore, can only be regarded as providing one
of the means for supplying the present deficiency of labor in New
South Wales; but, if in conjunction with it the agency of the
Surgeons Superintendents be employed, a sufficient supply may be
annually obtained.

20. The Government Notice Introducing the Bounty System.
1835.

(Copies of Correspondence Respecting Emigration, p. 64. P,P.
1837, XLIII, 358.)

Colonial Secretary’s Office, Sydney,
28th October, 1835.

As a part of the arrangements intended to be adopted with a view
to facilitate the introduction into the colony of useful and respectable
emigrants from any part of Europe, his Excellency the Governor
directs it to be notified that a pecuniary aid, to the amount and
under the conditions hereinafter specified, .will be granted to those
settlers who shall be at the charge of bringing emigrants to Sydney.

1 . The sum of ;£’30 will be granted as a bounty towards defraying
the expense of the passage of every married man, whether mechanic
or farm servant, and his wife, neither of whose ages shall exceed,
on embarkation, 30 years; and the sum of £5 for each of their
children whose age shall exceed 12 months. A sum of ^^15 will also
be allowed for every unmarried female whose age shall not be below
15 nor above 30 years, who shall come out with the consent of the
settler or his agent, under the protection of the married couple,
as forming part oT the family, and destined to remain with it until

IMMIGRATION

187

such female be otherwise provided for. A bounty of /^iG^vill also be
allowed for every unmarried male mechanic or farm servant, above
the age of 18 and not exceeding 25 years, brought out by a settler,
who at the same time brings out an equal number of females,
accompanying and attached to a family, as hereinafter described.

2. Before any such payments are made, the emigrant on whose
account they are claimed, will be required to present themselves
before a board, appointed by the Governor to inspect persons of
this description, to whom the adults are to exhibit testimonials of
good character, signed by clergymen and respectable inhabitants
of note in the places of their former residence, with which testi-
monials it is necessary that every family and single person for whom
the bounty is claimed should be provided. If the board shall be
satisfied with these testimonials, and that the persons presenting
themselves are within the ages set forth in the foregoing paragraph,
to be established by the production of copies or extracts of the
registry of their baptism, duly certified by the parish minister, or
other proper officer, of good bodily health and strength, and in
all other respects likely to be useful members of their class in
society, a certificate to such effect will be granted by the board,
which being presented at the Colonial Secretary’s Office in Sydney
a warrant will be immediately issued for payment to the settler of
the sum to which he shall become entitled under this notice. In the
case of foreigners brought to the colony for the cultivation of the
vine or olive, or for the manufacture of wine or oil, certificates of
ages, but not of character, will be dispensed with.

3. Settlers desiring to avail themselves of any of these bounties
are required to transmit to the Colonial Secretary at Sydney, on or
before the last day of November next, a list, specifying as nearly as
circumstances will permit, the number, condition and calling of
the persons they propose to bring out.

4. It is to be understood that bounties will not be allowed for
any persons brought out by settlers, unless the claimant shall have
transmitted to the Colonial Secretary, within the time specified,
the list required by the foregoing paragraph, and that he shall have
received in reply an intimation of its being the intention of this
Government to grant a bounty on the introduction of the persons
described therein. If hereafter it shall be found expedient to renew
the arrangement now promulgated, due notice will be given from
the Colonial Secretary’s Office.

5. It is also to be understood that no expence whatever, attendant
upon the introduction of these emigrants, will be defrayed by
Gcvernment, excepting the bounties hereinbefore mentioned ;
and that the wives and families of soldiers in regiments in this
colony or Van Diemen’s Land, and of persons serving under

188 SELECT DOaUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

sentence of ft^ansportation in either colony, are excepted from the
present regulation.

By his Excellency’s command,

[Signed] Alexander M’Leay.

[Note: The Bounty regulations were changed in 1837 and 1840. The new
regulations were published in the New South Wales Government Gazette on 25 Sep-
tember 1837 and 18 March 1840,]

21. Af Comparison Between the Government and Bounty
System. 1839.

(Report of Committee on Immigration, pp. 4-9. V. and P. of the
Legls, Coun, ofN.S.W, 1839, Vol. II.)

The consideration that there have been two systems in operation
for the introduction of Immigrants, the one by means of Agency
conducted under the direction of Government, the other kept in
activity by private enterprise under the inducements held out by
the offer of the Bounties, has led your Committee to institute an
accurate comparison between those two systems upon the points of
general efficiency, arrangement and expense.

With reference to the first feature, that of positive efficiency, the
Committee has arrived at the conclusion, that each of the systems
has had the effect of introducing great numbers of useful and
industrious individuals of both sexes into the Country, whereby its
moral, physical, and political condition has been already much
improved, and the ground-work has been laid for a future much
more extended melioration.

It is, however, not so much upon the actual, as upon the compar-
ative, recommendations of these two systems, that your Committee
has been led to dwell, from a conviction that preference should be
given to that one which shall be found to confer an equal amount of
advantage on the colony, at the lowest rate of expense. . . .

[On expense] Your Committee, therefore, can form no other
conclusion than that the Immigrants introduced under the Govern-
ment system at an expense of 168,775 might have been conveyed
hither under the system of Bounties at a cost of no more than
;^1 12,955, or with an actual saving of ^^55,820 to the Colony.

It appeared therefore necessary to inquire whether the description
of Immigrants furnished by the Government system was so superior
to the corresponding class under the Bounty System, as to constitute
an advantage deserving to be placed in the scale against the marked
excess in the cost of their introduction. But without designing to
detract from the character of usefulness and eligibility in many of
the Immigrants introduced in Government vessels, the Committee
cannot conceal the fact that there is Evidence of a great proportion
of this class being t)f a contrary description, and upon the point of

IMMIGRATION

189

qualification there can be no doubt that the balance k decidedly
in favour of those under the Bounty 'System. The most ol^ious cause
of such superiority in the latter class is to be found in that ^^egulation
which prohibits the payment of any portion of the Bounty on account
of any Immigrant until he or she shall have undergone an inspection
before a Colonial Board, to the satisfaction of which it must be made
to appear, that the party, in point of age and general qualifications
accords with the conditions appointed by the Government here.
In the case of all parties not answering to that standard the Bounty
is withheld, and the expense of their passage falls therefore as a loss
upon the affreighter of the vessel. It is too clear to need any proof
that no possible regulation could surpass this in tending to make
persons entering into engagements to bring out Immigrants on the
Bounty System, extremely cautious in admitting none except such as
duly correspond with the description laid down in the Government
Regulations. It is shewn that not above one in a hundred is rejected
on inspection; from which it must be evident that the persons by
whom the selection is made, must be acting with the utmost care-
fulness, under a sense of the pecuniary responsibility they would
incur by any relaxation of vigilance as to the description of persons
sent by them to the Colony. It does not appear to your Committee
that the Agency of a Board in the service of Government can ever be
expected to exercise so scrupulous a care; however earnest and
faithful the Members of such Board may, in reality, be, there must
still be wanting among them, that stimulus to keenness of observ-
ation, which must necessarily be excited, when the party making the
selection is under the constant recollection that^his own pecuniary
interests will be injured if he admit ineligible objects. . . .

... In this point of view the Bounty System is incontestably prefer-
able to Government Agency, under which there will not only be
somewhat more of laxity in the selection of parties, but should they
die on the passage, or however inefficient or unsuitable they may on
their arrival prove to be, the expense of their transmission has been
incurred previously to their leaving the Shores of England, and
cannot in any event be recovered. Under the other System, it is
obvious, that upon the supposition of deaths occurring, or of
incompetency being proved, the whole account of Bounty is saved
to the Colony. . . .

. . . The corresponding details relating to Ships on the Bounty
System, shew that in Vessels arriving between the 1st January, 1838,
and 30th September, 1839, there were embarked 3,001 Adults, of
whom 36 died, or 1 in 83 — Children embarked were 1,449,
among whom occurred 148 Deaths, or one in 9j-U.

The average of Deaths on board Government Vessels has been
1 in 56-Jf Adults, and 1 in lOJff Children. The^generai average

190 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

of Mort^ity therefore has been 124 Adults in 7,939; and 526
Ghildrennn 5,365, i.e: 1 in 64 adults, 1 in 11 Children, or 1 in
every 20 souls, very nearly.

Previously to quitting the consideration of the comparative
merits of the two systems upon which the conveyance of Immigrants
is now conducted, it is necessary to refer to one class, peculiar to the
ships on the Bounty System, that is consisting of persons arriving on
board those ships at their own cost and charge. During the year 1838,
th#re were 1,478 persons of that description; and during the first
nine months of the present year, their numbers have increased to
2,171

It is evident that persons so circumstanced could either not be
received on board the Government vessels, or they must be provided
with free passages, and consequently the value of their services to
the Colony, and the amount of passage money thus saved, must
be placed to the credit of the Bounty System. There are no data
enabling this Committee to trace very accurately what proportion
among those who arrive at their own expense, may have been
induced to undertake the voyage from the motive of accompanying
their friends who are allowed a free passage; but assuming this
motive to prevail in one-half only of such cases, the Bounty System
will have had the collateral effect of bringing to the Colony in 2 1
months not fewer that 1,824 individuals without expense to the
public, who, if that system had not been in operation, would either
not have come, or would have had their passage paid for out of the
Colonial funds

[Note: 1. In 1841 the British Government suspended both government and
bounty migration. In 1843 they renewed assistance to migrants. The methods
used are given in H.R.A. I, 23, pp. 136-7. In 1845 this system was suspended,
but, in response to the demands from the colonists, the British Government
renewed assistance to migrants in 1847. The demand for renewal is in H.R.A.
I, 35, pp. 332-4. The next document illustrates the method used. For a detailed
account of the period from 1841-50 see R. B. Madgwick: Immigration into Eastern
Australia^ Chs 9 and 10.

2. For another comment on the vices and virtues of the Bounty system see
Report of the Committee on Immigration, pp. 1-2, V. and P. of the Lesis. Com.
ofN.S.W. 1842.]

22. The British Government Agrees to Reintroduce Immi-
gration. 1847.

(Grey to Fitzroy, 30 August 1847. H.R.A. I, 25, pp. 728-30.)

I have to state that, on the expediency of renewing Emigration,

I entirely concur in the opinion you express. I am fully alive to the
urgent demand for labor, and it would be a source of deep regret to
Her Majesty’s Government if, with a flourishing revenue and a
large trade, the prosperity of the Colony were permanently endan-
gered for want of hands to develop its resources.

IMMIGRATION

191

The only difficulty has been to settle the mode in which the
expenditure should be provided for. It was ascertained tha? to make
a stipulation as you suggest that, in the event of your failing from any
unexpected reason to raise the requisite Funds, the Ship-Owner
should accept payment in Debentures, w^ould be liable to defeat
the measure or at any rate to expose the Colony to the most serious
disadvantage in the terms it could obtain. On the other hand, it
might have been in vain, and would possibly have been attended
with difficulties of a legal nature to attempt this year to raisei a
Public Loan for the Colony in the London Money Market. For
some time before receiving your Despatch, I had under my consid-
eration a proposal of an advance by one of the Banks; but to take
a Loan of this kind by private Contract would have been a question-
able measure, and on investigation it appeared that virtually the
offer of the Bank was only tantamount to advancing the money in
the Colony, where, from your representation in the present Despatch,
I trust that it will be in your own power to raise it in a regular
way by public Competition.

On the whole, therefore, being anxious to relieve the Colony from
that extreme want of labour which at present exists, and relying on
the confident expectation you express that Funds can be raised, I
have resolved to direct the Emigration Commissioners to take the
necessary measures without delay to send out 5,000 Statute Adults
to New South Wales.

It remains that I should notice some particulars on the manner
in which the Emigration is to be conducted, and on the pecuniary
arrangements.

I agree with you that it is important that means should be taken
to distribute the Emigrants promptly after arrival. Some deficiency
in this respect is said to have been experienced at the time of the
last Emigration to New South Wales. So fully do I feel the import-
ance of this object, that I should especially wish you to adopt every
advisable means for corresponding with the interior on the demand
for Servants, and for employing during the Emigration any
additional Agency which may appear calculated more readily
to find the people good employment in the Country. But I do
not think it would be advisable to insert, as you suggest, a provision
in the Charter-parties that Ships may be ordered from Sydney and
Port Phillip to Minor Ports. This measure might affect Insurances;
it would impair the facilities of Ship Owners for taking Cabin
Passengers and Cargo, and, by thus diminishing convenience and
economy, would entail the disadvantage on the Colony of enhancing
terms on which Contracts could be entered into. Important there-
fore as I deem the object, it appears to me that it may be more
fitly met by making use of the Coasters and Steamers on the spot.

192 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

And I* have not, therefore, caused any change to be made in the
CharteV Parties.

I may take the present opportunity of informing you that it has
been mentioned by Mrs. Chisholm, in some evidence before a
Committee of the House of Lords, that there used to be a want of
proper accommodation for the reception and protection of young
\vomen immediately on their landing from Emigrant Ships. This is
a point to which l\vould request your early attention, and I am
!mre that I need not impress upon you the importance that single
women, who arrive by Emigrant ships, should not be exposed to
any hardships or dangers which can possibly be averted by the
Government.

I have not caused the Emigration to be resumed on the footing
of what is called Bounty. That system, in its original shape, has
long since been abandoned. In the modified form in which it was
last used, it was not unsuccessful, because fortunately it fell into
the hands of Contractors of great experience and respectability.
But there is always the risk that the Contract may be acquired by
less deser\ing or less competent persons. Many Merchants may be
excellent Shipowners, without at all understanding the complicated
business of selecting and despatching large bodies of Emigrants.

On the whole, there is stated to have grown up a general consent
among all parties, that it is better that the Shipowners should attend
to their own business of finding Ships, and the Government not
abandon its proper functions of selecting Emigrants; and, upon
this footing accordingly, I have directed the Emigration Commis-
sioners to proceed in carrying into effect the present measure.
No Board of Inquiry is to sit in order to examine in the case of
every Emigrant, whether or not he appears a Man on whom it is
fit to pay Bounty.

The Commissioners will select the most fitting Candidates they
can procure, and the Shipowner will be paid for every passenger
whom he conveys.

Turning now to the pecuniary arrangements, I have to inform
you that the Commissioners have ascertained that there will be no
objection on the part of the Trade to dispense with receiving any
portion of the freight at the time of Sailing from this Country;
but that, in order to avoid the inconvenience of Agency and remit-
tance, Owners would rather not be paid in the Colony, and would
prefer waiting till intelligence reaches England of the safe arrival
of the Emigrants.

The Lords of the Treasury have agreed that, in order to promote
this arrangement, they will authorise the Chief Officer of the
Commissariat to receive any Sums which you may pay into the
Military Chest for Emigration purposes, and will direct him to

IMMIGRATION

193

give immediate notice of the same to their Lordships, uponnvhich
they will at once issue the same amount to the Emigration Commis-
sioners to be applied to the objects of the present measure.

[Note: The government and bounty schemes were not the only methods
of giving assistance to migrants. Some employers in the colonies and philan-
thropists had their own schemes. For an example see the evidence of the Reverend
J. D. Lang to the Committee on Immigration, V. and P. of the Legis. Conn, of
JSf.S.W. 1835. There was also provision for pauper migration in the British Poor
Law Acts, for example, for England, Wales and Scotland, 4 & 5 Will. IV c.
76, s. 62; for Ireland, 1 & 2 Viet. c. 56, s. 51; 6 & 7 Viet. c. 92, s. 18; and 19
Viet. c. 31, ss. 13, 14. For the methods used to ca.rry out the provisions of these
Acts, see the evidence of W. G. Lumley (Assistant Secretary to the Poor Law
Commission) to the Select Committee on Colonization from Ireland, Sesnonai
Papers of tJie House of Lords 1847, Vol. XXIII, p. 196 et seq. For the number migra-
ting under the Poor Law Amendment Act and the Irish Poor Law Act
see Appendices 15 and 16 of the same Committee.]

E. The Selection of Migrants

23. General Principles. 1837.

(Elliot to Rogers. Enc. No. 2 in Glenelg to Bourke, 21 July 1837*
KRA, I, 19, p 36.)

Every exertion is to be made to procure them of good character,
and industrious and respectable habits, for which purpose you will
seek information from their Religious Ministers or former employers,
or any other source you may find available. It is particularly
essential to avoid the selection of persons who have been at all
addicted to intemperance, as the temptations to that vice are much
greater in New South Wales from the Climate and the cheapness
of ardent Spirits.

[Note: No attempt has been made to illustrate the organization in Great
Britain for the selection of migrants, nor the rather lengthy regulations for such
selection. The following institutions were the important ones:

1. The Commissioners for Emigration, 1831-6. For their work see P,P, 1831-2,
XXXII, 724. For a comment on their work see R. B. Madgwick: Immigration
into Eastern Australia, p. 93 et seq.

2. The London Emigration Committee, 1832-6. For a comment on their w'ork
see R. B. Madgwick: Op. cit., p. 100 et seq.

3. The Agent-General for Emigration (P.P. 1836-40). For his reports see P.P.
1837-8, XL, 388; 1839, XXXIX, 536; 1840, XXXIII, 113. For a comment
on his work see R. B. Madgwick: Op. cit., p. 112.

4. The Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, 1840-73 (generally
called “The Land Board”). For their commissions and instructions see P.P.
1840, XXXIII, 35. For a list of their reports in the Parliamentary Papers, see
M. I. Adam, J. Ewing, J. Munro : Guide to the Principal Parliamentary Papers relating
to the Dominions, 1812-1911, pp. 154-6. For a comment on their work see R. B.
Madgwick: Op. cit., p. 169 et seq.

The important point is what the colonists thought of the selections made by
these men. Some of these opinions are illustrated in the docume»ts that follow.]

194 SELECT^ DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

24. Cofpnial Opinion on Types of Migrants. 1835.

(Report of Committee on Immigration, p. 17. V. and P. of the
Legis. Goun, of NS.W. 1835.)

This Colony is made the receptacle for the outcasts of the United
Kingdom, and is consequently loaded with a vast disproportion of
immoral people. That the Colonists have derived many advantages
from the transportation of Convicts, cannot be denied — but the
system has brought with it a long train of moral evils, which can
only be counteracted by an extensive introduction of free and
virtuous inhabitants — and the only means upon which the Colonists
can safely rely for accomplishing this vital object, is the revenue
arising from the sale of lands. It is for these reasons that Your
Committee are anxious to record their opinion, as well as that of the
whole community of the Colony, that the funds arising from the
sale of lands should be appropriated exclusively to the purpose of
introducing a moral and industrious population — that they consider
this appropriation alike indispensable to the present interests, and
the future prosperity and character of the Colony — and that they
regard the opinion expressed by the Secretary of State for the
Colonies, and approved by the Lords of the Treasury, in the light
of a pledge by His Majesty’s Government, that the Grown Lands
of the Colony shall be held sacred to the promotion of Immigration.

[Note: For a more temperate opinion see 1. Bourke to Stanley, 21 January
1834, H,R.A. 1, 17, pp. 343-5. 2. Bourke to Spring Rice, 13 February 1835,
I, 17, pp. 658-61.]

25. An Opinion in New South Wales on Government
Migrants. 1840.

(Supplement to the Sydney Morning Herald^ 17 March 1840.)

These statements are quite sufficient to draw the attention of the
public to the scandalous abuses of the Government system of
importing immigrants. It has been converted into a contemptible
tool for Whig faction purposes, and Popish ascendancy. The interests
of the colony are thrown overboard to promote the Irish poor laws.
The sale of Land funds are handed over to agents, who sweep the
gaols and parishes of the cumberers of the property of popish
landlords. The unhappy emigrants are shipped off, to make way
for pardoned cut throats released from prison, by the popularity
hunting Lord Lieutenant. Will the Government permit this system,
so ably exposed by Mr. Pinnock, to exist for one day, will no sense
of oppression awaken the torpid energies of the buyers of land and
hirers of servants? The nefarious system is open to the glare of
the sun. If the monster is not crushed let the sufferers take the
consequences, ^ in the embarrassing poor-law begging system it..

IMMIGRATION

195

produces, and in the pondrous taxes to be levied for popr-houses,
hospitals, gaols, and police, to suppress such scenes, as Have never
been witnessed in this land, comparatively happy "with all its
disadvantages of convict servants and irresponsible Councils. A
merchant, when ordered to send you his best rum, sugar, or tea,
with a promise that you will pay him the best price, will not send
you the sweepings of his store if he is an honest man. But here the
Colonists send ample funds for the best immigrants, to advance the
Colony and benefit Britain, while the Whig Alinistry send ’but
the very refuse of the counties, that their new poor-laws may be
lightly felt. The system is ‘too bad’. It merits the severest censure.

26. An Opinion on the Use of the Land Fund for Immigration*
1849.

(Report of Select Committee on Grown Lands, pp. 12-13. F, and P.
of the Legis. Com. of N.S.W. 1849, Vol. 11.)

27. — Under this head your Committee proceed to consider the
expenditure of the funds of this Colony for the purposes of immi-
gration. The practice of the expenditure of the land fund for this
purpose has hitherto been, to expend the whole of the funds at the
disposal of the Government for the introduction of labor, to contract
a large debt for the same purpose, and then to desist from
immigration altogether, until the debt is paid off, and the land
fund has again a considerable sum at its credit, and then to re-
commence the same process. No attempt has been hitherto made to
supply the Colony with a continuous stream of immigration; we
have had a succession of floods, each succeeded by its corresponding
drought. The resumption of immigration is a cause of panic to the
laboring classes; its discontinuance, to the employers of labor.
Immigration comes to be looked upon as an occasional incident
rather than a necessary part of Colonial administration. As the
tendency in the Colonial labor market, is invariably in favor of the
laborer, the cessation of immigration is attended with the most
disastrous results to the employer of labor; it is not merely that his
laborers raise their demands, but his power over them is seriously
diminished. If it were only for the sake of the moral effect that it
produces, it is desirable that immigration should be continuous,
and that whatever reduction is necessary to be made in its quantity,
in order to secure its continuity, should be made. The time also
seems to have arrived when the public mind in England has become
sufficiently alive to the importance of emigration, to recognize
the unquestionable right of the Colony to an efficient assistance from
the Mother Country in removing her surplus population to a land
where they not only obtain remunerative employment, but become
immediately the largest consumers of English ^ manufactures.

196 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

It appears^ by the evidence of the Immigration Agent, that not
only is the ’land fund exhausted, but a debt of ;^75,000 is also con-
tracted, wjiiie the demand for rural labor remains unabated. Under
these circumstances, your Committee cannot but regard with
apprehension the prospect of a total cessation of immigration.
These considerations lead your Committee to the conclusion, that
the time has arrived when the importation of immigrants to New
South Wales, entirely at the expense of the Colony, ought to cease.
Yout Committee recommend that no Colonial funds be advanced
for the purpose of bringing out immigrants, unless they both
satisfy the regulations at present in force with regard to persons
brought out at the expense of the Colony, and are also able to
contribute something towards the expense of their passage. What
that sum should be, your Committee cannot pretend to suggest,
but would leave it to the discretion of the Commissioners, being
well aware from painful experience how impossible it is to regulate
on one side of the world the details of business to be carried on at
the other. Your Committee would however remark, that it might
be judicious, in the first instance, to require but a small sum, and
when the practice has been established, gradually to inci'ease it.
Great as is the inconvenience which the Colony must undergo in
checking the immediate supply of labor, which notwithstanding
the importation of 18,000 persons she still so urgently needs, it is
better to make a firm stand at once and not to go on indulging the
ridiculous hope, that while the Colony is willing to pay the whole
of the expense of bringing out labor, any one will be so quixotic
as to share it with her. It is moreover absolutely necessary that the
advantage of emigration to this Colony should' be kept constantly
before the British public, and this can never be, if the subject is
suffered to go to sleep while funds are accumulating for the resump-
tion of emigration.

‘27, The Official Reply to Colonial Criticism. 1840.

(Elliot to Stephen. Enc. in Russell to Gipps, 18 January 1840.
KRA. I, 20, pp. 504-5.) ^

Thirdly. The next question I would advert to is that of selection.

The Remarks made on this subject in the Colony are somewhat
too apt to assume that there is an unlimited command of Emigrants
in this Country. It may be natural for an officer at Sydney to point
out that the persons who arrive are not the best that could be desired;
but the duty, to which the officers at home must attend, is to send
the best who can be procured, and it may be questioned how they
should otherwise have succeeded in doubling and Quadrupling
the emigration to Sydney within the last three years. ^

The substantially satisfactory fact upon this head is that, by the

IMMIGRATION

197

last annual Report of the Agent for Emigrants at Sydney pointing
out all the objections which he could state against the people in
Governmt. Vessels, it nevertheless appears that “all the Emigrants,
who arrived during the past year [183B], are now comfortably
settled, and at high wages throughout the Colony’’. ...

It was not surprising that two Courses of proceeding, so much
resembling One another as the Government Emigration and that
upon Bounty, should not go on together, without exciting some
party spirit especially as the latter involved in its favor a considerable
commercial interest. But however strenuously may have been
urged every defect, which could be found or supposed in the
Government Emigration, it must always remain a satisfaction to the
Officers employed at home during the last three years, and will,
I doubt not, weigh duly with the reflecting part of the community
in New South Wales, that those Officers found the Emigrants,
assisted to proceed to Sydney, going by hundreds, and that they
have sent them by Thousands; that they found the Colony still
inadequately known and by no means popular; that they now see
it well known (as the extent itself of the new Emigration sufficiently
proves) and in many parts of the Country preferred to all other
places of resort.

[Note; For a comment on the types coming to eastern Australia, and their
contribution to political and social life, see R. B. Madgwick: Immigration into
Eastern Anstarlia, pp. 250-1.]

F. The Reception of Migrants

28. One Account of the Reception of Migrants. 1835.

(Ev. of W. Macpherson to Committee on Immigration, p. 27.
V. and P. of the Legis, Com, of JSf.S.W, 1835.)

[Note : Mr Macpherson was the Collector of Internal Revenue in the Govern-
ment of New South Wales.]

I allude to the want of lodging, or accommodation for them on
their arrival; it is true, they may find plenty of public lodging
houses, and there is no want of small private houses, which they
may rent for from five to ten shillings per week; but when to this
sum is added, the cost of firewood and water, exclusive of provisions,
poor Emigrants, are very soon drained of the little savings they
may have been able to preserve, and such as go to the public
lodging houses, become habituated to scenes of inebriety, in which
they are soon induced to participate. I do not know a greater
benefit that the government could confer upon emigrants, than the
provision of buildings for their reception, and temporary accom-
modation on their arrival.

198 SELECT POCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

29. Exammation of Government Migrants on Arrival. 1839.

(Ev. of J. Dobie to Committee on Immigration, pp. 50-1. F. and
P. of ihe^Legis, Com. of 1839, Vol. II.)

On board the Government ships every individual is required
to appear before the Board— the name, and age on embarkation-
trade or calling, religion, state of bodily health, and education,
are carefully taken down; inquiry being made whether there was
any cause of complaint during the passage. The fittings and
accommodation below are examined; and the qualities of each
description of provisions tested, as well as the quality and quantity
of the water: a Report of the result is made to the Government.
In the Bounty Ships a similar examination takes place, with this
addition, that inquiry is made whether the parties come within the
description of persons for whom bounty is paid.

30. TEe Work of Mrs CEisholm. 1840 c.

(Ev. of Mrs Chisholm to Select Committee on Colonization from
Ireland. Sessional Papers of the House of Lords 1847, Vol. XXIII,
loc. cit)

When the Bounty System was going on there was not sufficient
Arrangement made for removing Emigrants into the Interior,
nor sufficient Protection for the Females on their Arrival; and I
commenced my Labours on behalf of those- Females in providing
them with Situations. . . .

A few only were properly protected, while Hundreds were wander-
ing about Sydney without Friends or Protection. Great Numbers
of these young Creatures were thrown out of Employment by the
new Arrivals; and I received many of them into the ‘‘Home” who
I found had slept out for Nights in the Government Domain,
— seeking the sheltered Recesses of the Rocks, rather than encounter
the Dangers of the Streets (p. 407).

It is quite necessary to protect the Emigrant. Numbers of poor
People that go cannot speak or understand the English Language.
I have known Numbers of Highlanders go who could not under-
stand or speak English, and all are ignorant of the Nature of
Colonial Agreements; then it is necessary that they should have
some Person to protect their Interests; but I do not think it is
advisable that there should be in future any Home for Emigrants
in Sydney, Country Depots being more useful. There should be an
active dispersing Agent who should be ready to assist those People
who are willing to go up the Country, who should make himself
acquainted with every Particular connected with the Interior, and
who should once a Month report the Result of his Labours (a very

IMMIGRATION

199

necessary thing) to the Colonial Government Emigration Agent,
or to the Commissioners once a Month (p, 413).

I objected to them [Board of ship engagements] as regards the
Settlers generally, because Persons living in S}^dney, a few influential
Persons, would go on board and get all the single Men, and then
the People in the Country would object to having all the heavy
Families; whereas if an equal Distribution were to take place in
the first instance no District would object to Families; butper^japs
One Individual would get Twenty single Men, and the Families
would be left. I recommended at the Time, that on the Resumption
of Emigration the Emigrants should be landed at the different
Ports, such as Port Macquarie, Moreton Bay &c. Then again, bad
Paymasters preferred Board-ship Engagements. Again, the People
had not sufficient Opportunity of inquiring the Rate of Wages or the
Character of the Employer; and, as regards single Females, Board-
of-ship Engagements are attended with very fearful Consequences
(p. 412).

The first and most important thing was to get possession of a
Government Building, which I named ‘‘The Female Emigrants
Home”. I then appealed to the Public for Support; and after a Time
this Appeal was liberally met; but on this Home becoming crowded,
and the Majority of its Inmates being unsuitable for Sydney
Service, but fit for the rough Country Work of the Interior, I
proceeded into the Districts to form Committees, and establish
Country Depots or Homes, taking in some Cases large Parties of
Females with me. . . .

[Mrs Chisholm then submitted this example of an Immigi'ants’
Home]

IMMIGRANTS HOME
East Maitland

Persons requiring Servants are provided with them on applying
at this Institution, where a limited Number of the most eligible
Class of the Immigrants arrive by the Steamers from Sydney every
Week.

The Cottage No. 1, Smith’s Row, is at present occupied as a
Home for Female Immigrants, where the Agent is in attendance
daily between the Hours of Nine and Twelve in the Morning, and
Four to Six in the Evening.

A Number of single Women are supported at the Home until
they can procure Engagements. The Rate of Wages from £9 to ;£‘i6.

Single Men are received according as they have been applied for.
A few Labourers arrive from Sydney every Week, and are in
attendance during Office Hours.

Several married Men are entered for Employment? Two or Three,

200 SELECT I^JOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

if without Children, are forwarded from Sydney when they can
be procured.

Persons engaging Serv’ants at the Immigrants Home advance the
Passage Money from Sydney to Maitland, which is not deducted
from the Wages of the Sen^ant, unless the Agreement entered into is
broken on his or her Part. The Expense on hiring a Servant amounts
to 12s. 6d.

Letters (Post-paid), stating Particulars of the Description of
Ser^’ant required, the Wages offered, and the Mode of Conveyance
are punctually attended to.

March 1842.

[Mrs Chisholm then resumed her evidence]

I met with great Assistance from the Country Committees. The
Squatters and Settlers were always willing to give me Conveyance
for the People. I never wanted for Provisions of any Kind; the
Country People always supplied them: A Gentleman who was
examined before your Lordships the other Day, Mr. William Bradly,
a Native of the Colony, called upon me, and told me that he
approved of my Views, and that if I required any thing in carrying
my Country Plan into operation I might draw upon him for Money,
Provisions, Horses, or indeed any thing that I required. I had no
Necessity to draw upon him for a Sixpence, the People met my
Efforts so readily; but it was a great Comfort for me at the Time
to be thus supported. . . .

Can you state to the Committee how many Emigrants from
first to last you have been the Means of settling with Families ?

About 11,000 Souls (pp. 408-10).

[Note : For further information on the work of Mrs Chisholm see G. Chisholm :
Female Immigration etc,, and E. McKenzie: Memoir of Mrs Caroline Chisholm.l

31. Two Examples of Success of Migrants in Australia. 1845 c.

(Ev. to Committee on Immigration, p. 27. F. and P. of the Lem
Com. of XS,W, im,) ^

1. Statement of W D , parish of , county of .

Arrived in 1841 ; had no money on landing; was engaged as farm
servant nine days after my arrival, at the following wages; £20
a year, and a weekly ration of 12 lbs. flour, 10 lbs. meat, 2 lbs. sugar,
i lb. tea. I have now eight head of cattle, and am worth in cash ;^30;
the highest wages I ever received before I emigrated to this Colony

was £3 10s. a year; I am well known to , and to ; I

subscribe to a school, and the Colonial Observer; since in this
Colony, I was out of employment about three months, but I must
say it was nearly my own fault. I refused, as Mrs. Chisholm knows,

IMMIGRATION 201

£15 a year, and rations; I am now receiving 20s. a week, and
board myself ; have a nice house, free of rent. . . .

2. Statements of A F , parish of , count}^ of .

Came to this country in 1839; on landing, my money and
property were worth about ^fSO; was engaged two days after my
arrival, at 24s. per week, afterwards 30s. — out of this I got my own
food; when I had been three months in service, was engaged as
overseer; commenced for myself with the sum of ;^40, on a cleaning
lease of ten acres, rent ;^10 a year; this land I have since purchased
for £70; have about half the sum paid; I have 3 horses, 2 carts,
and a dray, 10 goats, a number of poultry, and have a tolerable
house of my own ; I employ two labourers, giving them board and
lodgings, and 8s. a week; if I had the capital I could employ more
with profit to myself; my young children I send to school, and
pay 6d. per week each.

32. Examples of Labourers becoming Landowners. 1832-46 c.

(i) Ev, of A. Cunningham (a squatter) to Select Committee on
Colonization from Ireland, p. 431. Sessional Papers of the House of
Lords 1847, Vol. XXIII.

I know among my own Servants, those I took out with me, and
those that have been taken out by my Friends, there are a large
Number now possessed of Property of various Kinds; and I believe
that amongst steady and intelligent Men, to set up for themselves
after from Five to Eight Years of Labour is the Rule, and to fail
in doing so is the Exception.

{it) Ev. of J. Morphett (a landowner in South Australia) to the
same Committee, p. 440.

One slight Evil of our present State is, that the Labourers too
rapidly get out of the Labour Market. The present Rate of Wages
enables the Labourers too soon, for a sufficient Return to the
Capitalist, to get out of the Ranks of Labour.

{Hi) Ev. of the Auditor General to Committee on Immigration,
p.25. V, andP. of the Legis. Coun, of N.S,W, 1845.

(3n the whole, do you consider that the majority have improved
their circumstances by emigrating to this Colony? — Desirous of
confining myself to my collection of facts, it was my intention (but
I really cannot find time to do all I wish) to lay before the Com-
mittee a Table, showing the ratio at which men leave the labour
market; I am however enabled to state that twenty-four per cent
of immigrants leave the labour market in four years.

[Note: 1. The standard of living of the assisted migrant, indeed of the free
worker, is a subject which needs to be investigated. There are odd references

202 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

to it in conlemporarv memoirs, for example, in A. Harris: Settlers and Convicts,
and P. Cunfdngham: Two Tean in New South Wales, There is also some useful
information in the evidence to the Committee on Petition from Distressed
Mechanics'and Labourers, and the Committee on Distressed Labourers, F. and
P. of the Legis. Conn. 1843, and 1844, VoL 11.

2. Working class organizations are discussed in Leila Thomas: The Develop-
ment of the Labour Movement in the Sydney District of New South Wales,
1788-1848 (an unpublished thesis in the Fisher Library, University of Sydney).

3. The methods used to keep workers dependent on their masters are illustrated
in Section 8, F of this volume.]

33. Some Employers Still Complain about the Scarcity
of Labourers. 1846.

['Extract from a letter to Mrs Chisholm by Dr Nicolson, Speaker
of Legis. Court. ofN.S.W,

Ev. of Mrs. Chisholm to Select Committee on Colonization from
Ireland, p. 419. Sessional Papers of the House of Lords 1847,
VoL XXIII.)

All this Redundance of the Necessaries and Luxuries of Life is
rendered valueless from the great and increasing Scarcity of Labour.
Wages since you left have, I should say, nearly doubled. In many
Parts of the Colony Shepherds are receiving ;£30 and ^^40 a year;
and I am told that in the Port Philip District Flockmasters have in
some few Cases been obliged to give as much diS 2 l Week for
Shepherds. In Sydney I am assured that the Want of Female Ser-
vants is felt more urgently than ever, and that Housemaids and
other domestic Servants are asking and receiving £25 and ;;^30 a
Year. All this you will, I think, admit is ruinous to the Master, and
generally in the End far from advantageous to the Labourer. So
great indeed is the Alarm that is felt on the Subject, that, as you may
probably have seen by the Papers, Efforts have been made to induce
the Home Government to renew transportation to the Colony.
The Proposition has been met with great Opposition on the Part
of the Labouring Classes, and also of many influential Persons,
including generally the Ministers of Religion, who deprecate the
Idea of the Colony being again converted into a Receptacle for
the Crime and Vice of Britain. The Reply to this is, that the Want
of Labour is so irresistible that unless procured in this Way we
must have recourse, and that upon an extensive Scale, to the system-
atic Introduction of Expiree Convicts from Van Diemen’s Land
and Norfolk Island, — Characters who are generally found, after the
Schooling they have had in those Places, to be infinitely more
immoral than Convicts sent direct from England; for the Fact is,
we must have Labour in some Shape or other, — ^free Labour if we can
get it, — if not, this Prison Labour, and failing either, Coolie Labour.

[Nopi: This opinion is corroborated by the evidence of squatters to the
Cfommiltees of the* Legislative Cfouncii ofN.S.W. on Immigration.]

IMMIGRATION

203

11. SOUTH AUSTRALIA
G. The Foundation

34. Aims of the South AustraHau Company. 1836.

(Ev. of G. F. Angas to Select Committee on South Australia, pp. 43-
4. P.P. 1841, IV, 134.)

The object of the company in the first instance was to assist the
commissioners, or rather to co-operate with the commissioner? in
carrying out the establishment of the colony according to the Act
of Parliament. First of all by purchasing a proportion of the land
necessary to raise the ^£'35,000 which was required by Act of'
Parliament to constitute the acts of the commissioners legal. The
next operation was to provide shipping for the purpose of supplying
the colony with the necessary means of planting an institution of
that kind in a distant land, also for the purpose of establishing a
sperm and black whale fishery, because we felt that unless we
established a colonial trade, there would be no means of providing
employment for the labourers, and if we could not obtain money
for the purpose of employing the men on shore as well as at sea,
the colony was not likely to progress. We were afraid of a re-action
after the first emigrants were placed down in the colony in case
they found no employment, and that they would emigrate to the
neighbouring colonies. To meet that difficulty we sent but ships
and officers, with the necessary capital for the erection of houses
and various other establishments connected with the whale fishery
and the white fishery, also trawlers and others, with a view of
exporting white salt fish to India and China. And in addition to
that, having land, which was purchased in the manner I have
alluded to, we thought it our duty to cultivate land to the utmost
extent of oiir means; we considered that the emigrants generally,
especially those who proposed to undertake business, ought to have
the means of a circulating medium, and consequently we established
a bank on the arrival of the first detachment. We sent out coasting
vessels, of from 100 to 200 tons, to import provisions from the
neighbouring colonies, feeling confident that the emigrants sent
out by the commissioners could not raise provisions immediately,
and that consequently they would require a supply from distant
parts; besides, we felt that in the establishment of a new colony
there ought to be extensive flocks and herds, therefore the first
movement that some of our vessels adopted after reaching the
colony was to import cattle and sheep from Van Diemen’s Land
and New South Wales. Besides, we were aware that there was a
great degree of antipathy in the minds of the Australian colonists
and the Van Diemen’s Land people to this new attempt at colon-

204 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

ization; yet we feit, as a Board of directors, that it was a great
national undertaking, and we had to make an experiment in the
teeth of the animosity of our neighbours, and if we did not defend
ourselves by providing means of support, we should be at the mercy
of the neighbouring colonies as to the supply of provisions. We
therefore sent vessels to the neighbourhood, and imported stock
and provisions ourselves. . . . Another object was to erect habitations
for the coming emigrants.

[Note: 1. For further information on the aims of the South Australian
Company, and, in particular the aims of G. F. Angas, see the Angas papers in
the South Australian archives.

2. For Wakefield’s conception of the colony see E. G. Wakefield: The New
British Province oj South Australia.}

35, The Aims of the British Government. 1834.

{Statutes at Large, VoL XIII.)

An Act to empower His Majesty to erect South Australia into
a British Pro\dnce or Provinces, and to provide for the Colon-
ization and Government thereof. 4 & 5 Will. IV, c.95. (15th
August 1834.)

Whereas that Part of Australia which lies between the Meridians
of the One hundred and thirty-second and One hundred and forty-
first Degrees of East Longitude, and between the Southern Ocean
and Twenty-six Degrees of South Latitude, together with the
Islands adjacent thereto, consists of waste and unoccupied Lands
which are supposed to be fit for the Purposes of Colonization: And
whereas divers of His Majesty’s Subjects possessing amongst them
considerable Property are desirous to embark for the said Part of
Australia: And whereas it is highly expedient that His Majesty’s
pid Subjects should be enabled to carry their said laudable Purpose
into effect: And whereas the said Persons are desirous that in the
said intended Colony an uniform System in the Mode of disposing
of Waste Lands should be permanently established: Be it therefore
enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the
Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and
Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the
Authority of the same. That it shall and may be lawful for His
Majesty, with the Advice of His Privy Council, to erect within that
Part of Australia which lies between the Meridians of the One
hundred and thirty-second and One hundred and forty-first
Degrees of East Longitude, and between the Southern Ocean and
the Twenty-six Degrees of South Latitude, together with all and
every the Islands adjacent thereto, and the Bays and Gulfs thereof,
with the Advice of His Privy Council, to establish One or more
Provinces and tP fix the respective Boundaries of such Provinces;

IMMIGRATION

205

and that all and every Person who shall at any Tim| hereafter
inhabit or reside within His Majesty’s said Province or Provinces
shall be free, and shall not be subject to or bound by asiy Laws,
Orders, Statutes, or Constitutions which h^ve been heretofore
made, or which hereafter shall be made, ordered, or enacted by,
for, or as the Laws, Orders, Statutes, or Constitutions of any other
Part of Australia^ but shall be subject to and bound to obey such
Laws, Orders, Statutes, and Constitutions as shall from Tim^ to
Time, in the Manner herein-after directed, be made, ordered, and
enacted for the Government of His Majesty’s Province or Provinces
of South Australia,

IL And be it further enacted. That it shall and may be lawful for
His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, by any Order or Orders
to be by Him or Them made with the Advice of His or Their
Privy Council, to make, ordain, and, subject to such Conditions
and Restrictions as to Him and Them shall seem meet, to authorize
and empower any One or more Persons resident and being within
any One of the said Provinces to make, ordain, and establish all
such Laws, Institutions, or Ordinances, and to constitute such
Courts, and appoint such Officers, and also such Chaplains and
Clergymen of the Established Church of England or Scotland^ and
to impose and levy such Rates, Duties, and Taxes, as may be
necessary for the Peace, Order, and good Government of His
Majesty’s Subjects and others within the said Province or Provinces;
provided that all such Orders, and all Laws and Ordinances so
to be made as aforesaid, shall be laid before the King in Council as
soon as conveniently may be after the making and enacting thereof
respectively, and that the same shall not in anywise be contrary or
repugnant to any of the Provisions of this Act.

III. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for His
Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, by Warrant under the Sign
Manual to be countersigned by His Majesty’s Principal Secretary
of State for the Colonies, to appoint Three or more fit Persons to
be Commissioners to carry certain Parts of this Act, and the Powers
and Authorities herein-after contained, into execution, and also
from Time to Time at pleasure to remove any of the Commissioners
for the Time being, and upon every or any Vacancy in the said
Number of Commissioners, either by Removal or by Death or
otherwise, to appoint some other fit Persons to the said Office, and
until such Appointment, it shall be lawful for the surviving or
continuing Commissioners or Commissioner to act as if no such
Vacancy had occurred.

VI. And be it further enacted, That the said Gomfiiissioners shall

206 SELECT r^OGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

and they are hereby empowered to declare all the Lands of the said
Province or Provinces (excepting only Portions which may be
reserved •for Roads and Footpaths) to be Public Lands open to
Purchase by British Subjects, and to make such Orders and Regu*-
lations for the surveying and Sale of such Public Lands at such
Price as the said Commissioners may from Time to Time deem
expedient, and for the letting of the Common of Pasturage of unsold
Portions thereof as to the said Commissioners may seem meet, for
any Period not exceeding Three Years; and from Time to Time to
alter and revoke such Orders and Regulations, and to employ the
Monies from Time to Time received as the Purchase Money of
such Lands, or as Rent of the Common of Pasturage of unsold
Portions thereof, in conducting the Emigration of Poor Persons
from Great Britain or Ireland to the said Province or Provinces:
Provided always, that no Part of the said Public Lands shall be
sold except in public for ready Money, and either by Auction or
otherwise as may seem best to the said Commissioners, but in no
Case and at no Time for a lower Price than the Sum of Twelve
Shillings Sterling per English Acre ; Provided also, that the Sum per
Acre which the said Commissioners may declare during any Period
to be the upset or selling Price at which Public Lands shall be sold
shall be an uniform Price; (that is to say,) the same Price per Acre
whatever the Quantity or Situation of the Land put up for Sale:
Provided also, that the whole of the Funds from Time to Time
received as the Purchase Money of the said Lands, or as the Rent
of the Common of Pasturage of unsold Portions thereof, shall
constitute an ‘‘Emigration Fund,” and shall, without any Deduction
whatsoever, except in the Case herein-after provided for, be employ-
ed in conveying poor Emigrants from Great Britain or Ireland to the
said Province or Provinces: Provided also, that the poor Persons
who shall by means of the said “Emigration Fund”, be conveyed
to the said Province or Provinces shall, as far as possible, be adult
Persons of the Two Sexes in equal Proportions, and not exceeding
the Age of Thirty Years.

XVL And be it further enacted. That the said Commissioners shall,
at least once in every Year, and at such other Times and in such
Form as His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies
shall direct, submit to the said Secretary of State a full and particular
Report of their Proceedings; and every such Report shall be laid
before both Houses of Parliament within Six weeks after the
Receipt of the same by the said Secretary of State, if Parliament be
then sitting, or if Parliament be not sitting, then within Six Weeks
after the next Meeting thereof.

IMMIGRATION

207

XVII . And be it further enacted, That it shail and may be lawful
for the said Commissioners, previously and until the Saiet^f Public
Lands in the said Province shall have produced a Fund sufficient
to defray the Cost of conveying to the said Province or Provinces
from Time to Time such a Number of poor Efnigrants as may by
the said Commissioners be thought desirable, from Time to Time
to borrow and take up on Bond or otherwise, payable by Instalments
or otherwise, at Interest not exceeding Ten Pounds per Centum
per Annum, any Sum or Sums of Money not exceeding Fifty
thousand Pounds, for the sole Purpose of defraying the Costs of the
Passage of poor Emigrants from Great Britain or Ireland to the said
Province or Provinces, by granting and issuing, to any Person or
Persons willing to advance such Monies, Bonds or obligatory
Writings under the Hands and Seals of the said Commissioners
or of any Two of them, which Bonds or other obligatory Writings
shall be termed South Australia Public Lands Securities;” and all
such Sum or Sums of Money not exceeding in the whole Fifty
thousand Pounds so borrowed or taken up by means of the Bonds
or Writings obligatory aforesaid, for the sole Purpose aforesaid,
shall be borrowed on the Credit of and be deemed a Charge upon
the whole of the Fund to be received as the Purchase \loney of
Public Lands, or as the Rent of the Common of Pasturage of unsold
Portions thereof; and it shall and may be lawful for the said
Commissioners from Time to Time to appropriate all or any Part
of the Monies which may be obtained by the Sale of Public Lands
in the said Province or Provinces to the Payment of Interest on
any such Sum or Sums borrowed and taken up as aforesaid, or
to the Repayment of such Principal Sum or Sums.

XVIII. And be it further enacted. That for defraying the necessary
Costs, Charges, and Expenses of founding the said intended Colony,
and of providing for the Government thereof, and for the Expenses
of the said Commissioners (excepting always the Purpose wffiereunto
the said Emigration Fund is made solely applicable by this Act),
and for defraying all Costs, Charges, and Expenses incurred in
carrying this Act into execution, and applying for and obtaining
this Act, it shall and may be lawful for the said Commissioners from
Time to Time to borrow and take up on Bond or otherwise, payable
by Imitalments or otherwise, at Interest not exceeding Ten Pounds
per Centum per Annum, any Sum or Sums of Money required for the
Purposes last aforesaid, not exceeding in the whole the Sum of
Two hundred thousand Pounds, by granting or issuing to any
Person or Persons willing to advance such Monies, Bonds or oblig-
atory Writings under the Hands and Seals of the said Commissioners
or any Two of them, which Bonds or other obligatory Writings

208 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

•

shall be termed ‘'South Australia Colonial Revenue Securities’’;
and all slich Sum or Sums of Money by the said Commissioners so
borrowed and taken up as last aforesaid shall be and is and are
hereby ’declared to be a Charge upon the ordinary Revenue or
Produce of all Rat^s, Duties, and Taxes to be levied and collected
as herein-before directed within the said Province or Provinces,
and shall be deemed and taken to be a Public Debt owing by the
said Province to the Holders of the Bond or Bonds or other Writings
obligatory by the said Commissioners granted for the purposes
last aforesaid.

XXIL And be it further enacted, That no Person or Persons
convicted in any Court of Justice in Great Britain or Ireland, or
elsewhere, shall at any Time, or under any Circumstances, be
transported as a Convict to any Place within the Limits herein-
before described.

XXI 11. And be it further enacted. That it shall and may be lawful
for His Majesty, by and with the Advice of His Privy Council, to
frame, constitute and establish a Constitution or Constitutions of
Local Government for any of the said Provinces possessing a
population of Fifty thousand Souls, in such Manner, and with
such Provisoes, Limitations, and Restrictions, as shall to His
Majesty, by and with the Advice of His Privy Council, be deemed
meet and desirable: Provided always, that the Mode herein-before
directed of disposing of the Public Lands of the said Province or
Provinces by Sale only, and of the Fund obtained by the Sale thereof
shall not be liable to be in anywise altered or changed otherwise
than by the Authority of His Majesty and the Consent of Parliament:
Provided also, that in the said Constitution of Local Government
for the said Province or Provinces, Provision shall be made for the
Satisfaction of the Obligations of any of the said Colonial Revenue
Securities which may be unsatisfied at the Time of framing such
Constitution of the said Province or Provinces.

H. The Selection of Migrants

36. The Regulations for Selection by the Colonization
Commissioners. 1836 c.

(App. No. 11 to Third Report of Colonization Commissioners. P.P.
1839, XVII, 255.)

Special Enugration Agents are to be appointed in the rural

IMMIGRATION 209

districts, for the purpose of selecting country labourers, under the
following conditions :

1st. That the certificate of each emigrant’s character and*circum-
stances required by the regulations, shall bg submitted to the
Commissioners for their approval.

2nd. That the Commissioner resident in the Colony, shall be
instructed to report to the Board in England respecting the character
and conduct of the labourers so sent out, and the Emigration Ag^nt
will be entitled to receive ^1 for every adult labourer, male or
female, selected by him, of whom no unfavourable report shall be
forwarded within six months after his or her landing in the Colony.

3rd. That as soon as the final report of the Surgeon-Superintendent
of the names and numbers of the emigrants embarked on board
any ship shall have been received, 5s. per head for every adult
labourer, male or female, embarked under the Commissioners’
sanction, shall be paid to the agent by whom such labourer shall
have been selected; such sum to be considered as part pa^nnent on
account, under the previous article.

The rate of payment here allowed is to cover all the expenses
which may be incurred by the agent.

The above terms to be offered equally to the present land-agents
of the Commissioners.

[Note : For the regulations for the reception of migrants see Appendix
No. 11 to Third Report of Colonization Commissioners.]

I. Early History of the Colony

37« Administrative Difficulties*

(Report of Select Committee on South Australia, p. iv. P.P. 1841,
IV, 394.)

It appears to Your Committee that so large an administrative
power in the discharge of so important a public trust ought not
to have been confided to any other hands than those of the recognised
Authorities of the country. To devolve them upon a Board, the
members of which were to be appointed and removed at the pleasure
of the Crown, but over whose proceedings the responsible Ministers
of the Crown could excercise no adequate control, was in effect
to relieve the Government from its proper responsibility, and
transfer it to persons of whose fitness for the office Parliament
could take no assurance beyond the judgement of the Ministry for
the time being, though the public faith was, to a great extent,
implicated in their acts, and pledged to their engagements. . . .
the Act created an inconvenient division of authority, and that

210 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

the powers of Administration were so parted between the two, that
they coufd not be effectually exercised by either. The raising of a
Reveni^e by means of Rates, Taxes, and Duties, the appropriation
of the Revenue so raised, and the general administration of the
Go\'ernment, were^/ested by the Act in a Local Board, appointed
by the Crown, and subject to the authority of The Queen in Council;
whilst the administration, not of the Land Fund only, but of the
Fund out of which all the necessary expenses of Government for
Sift’veys, Salaries, Police, Public Works, &c. were to be defrayed,
was confided in England to the Commissioners, and in the Colony
to a Commissioner, appointed indeed by the Grown, but acting
only under their instructions, and subject only to their authority.

. . . Thus whilst one department was made responsible for the
payment of the Colonial Debt, another had the management of
the Fund out of which it was to be paid; . . . Nor is it to be forgotten,
that the evils to be apprehended from the conflict of authorities so
ill-adjusted, which must be great in any case, were greatly aggra-
vated in this by the distance at which they were exercised, and the
length of time before a difficulty arising in South Australia could be
removed by a fresh instruction from England.

38. The Success of the Migrants. 1840.

(Ev. of A. KIcShane, a Surgeon, to Select Committee on South
Australia, pp. 138-41, P.P. 1841, IV, 394.)

[Chairman] What description of persons came under your
observation having gone out to the colony as emigrants ? — Agricul-
turists, small farmers, and mechanics generally, and female servants.

Did they find ready employment upon their arrival in the colony?
— Generally.

At what wages? — Labourers 7s, a day, carpenters and masons
i2s., 14s. or 15s. a day; stone-cutters the same, and others in the
same proportions.

Do you mean to say that they found ready employment upon
th^r arrival, at those wages? — I had no difficulty, or very little
difficulty, in finding them employment.

Lord Howick. Were they generally a respectable class of emi-
grants ? — They were a good class, certainly.

Mr. Hope. Gan you give any idea what their living cost?— Single
men in a boarding-house had their board and lodffinv for /I 5s
a week. ® ^

Captain A’ Court. Working men? — Mechanics, or whatever they
might be. ’

Mr. Hope. What was included in that?— Board and lodging, meat

IMMIGRATION

211

and drink, not washing. The same person earned £2 2s. as a
labourer, and £A 4s. a week as a mechanic; that is to saw supposing
he was a carpenter or a builder he would earn £4: 4s. a week.

Chairman. Was there any indisposition on the part of ernigrants to
go into the interior of the colony to farms renrote from Adelaide? —
Not on the part of agricultural labourers; on the part of those that
came from large towns, particularly London, there was an indis-
position, they would rather hang about the town.

What sort of employment did these obtain? — There was a great
deal of building going on, which furnished employment, and some
were engaged as house servants and assistants in shops, warehouses,
and offices.

What sort of houses have the agricultural labourers in the
country; for instance, at MountBarker ? — They have huts, mere huts.

Were those huts prepared for them by the farmers before their
arrival on the farms ? — If the farmers were already established they
would have huts for their labourers; if not, they would put them up
in a few days. They look upon a mud or a framed house of wood as
a permanent structure; if they had not those they put up tents or
huts of rough materials, which answer very well for a little time.
They drive stakes in the ground and weave wattles and small boughs
between those stakes, and then plaster it in a rough manner with
soft mud, so as to make it tolerably comfortable.

Did you find that the expectations under which the emigrants
had come out were generally fulfilled in their opinion? — Yes, of all
the useful emigrants I have not seen anyone whom I would consider
a well selected emigrant, who was not satisfied with his condition
after his arrival, except in a rare instance, where himself or some
part of his family may have been taken ill soon after landing.

What was the general state of health among the emigrants?
— Favourable.

What opinion have you of the climate, as to salubrity ? — I consider
the climate, upon the whole, a good one; I consider it salubrious.
I saw no evidence whatever, at any time, of the existence of marsh
miasmata or malaria; we had no epidemic diseases: I did not see
much even of opthalmia; it was not at all so prevalent as has been
described. I saw nothing which would make me look upon the
climate as essentially unhealthy. The people generally enjoyed
good health, and had a healthy appearance ; even in the hot season
appetite remained undiminished.

39. The Achievements of the Early Farmers. 1840.

(Extract from a letter by two farmers quoted by G. F. Angas in

212 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Ev. to Select Committee on South Australia, p. 46. P.P, 1841, IV,
394.) ^

I should rejoice to see many of my acquaintance here that are
labouring in England under great rents, heavy taxes, and unfeeling
tithe-procters, so that with ever so much labour and carefulness
they are still sinking, till all their property will be gone and leave
their children pennyless ; I am sure if they were here they would do
well for themselves and the colony also. I find from one practical
farn^er that he had last year 60 bushels of barley per acre; it was the
finest in quality I ever saw. I have seen very good samples of wheat,
but in small quantities; hope to be better in information after
harvest. Let no practical farmer be disheartened by any of those
who have yet given the colony a bad name; it is from the navy,
army, medical and shop-keeping farmers that such reports have
gone home; they expected and made up their minds to be rich
without having anything to sell; we have many of them here now.
I wish the land was in better hands, but this must be the work of
time.

40. One Opinion on the Migrants. 1836.

(Letter of S. Stephens to G. F. Angas, 27 September 1836. Angas
Papers.)

I am sorry to add that almost all our people have turned out idle,
impudent, and worthless. They are ‘‘waxed fat’’, and now they
kick, but the best remedy for all these evils is to send Emigrants in
shoals, and by no means articled. I believe I should not have had a
word with our people if they had not been articled.

41. Hard Work for the Pioneers. 1838.

(Letter of Ringside to G. F. Angas, 14 February 1838. Angas
Papers.)

Our agricultural operations go on very slowly on Kangaroo
Island, it is such immense labour to clear the land, there are now
several acres prepared for the plough; as soon as the rains set in
I hope to get the ground broken up, but at present no plough will
touch it. There were two sent out by the Company which were
tried in vain. I then took a very powerful implement which I
brought out for myself, and which was to break up any ground,
this has broken twice, in only trying a few furrows. We have just
gathered in our little harvest of Wheats, Barley, Oats and Maize
which have proved of the best quality and amazingly productive.

IMMIGRATION 213

42. Good Opportunities for the Farmer. 1842.

(Letter of Howard to G. F. Angas, 25 January 1842. Angas Papers.)

I have seen as fine crops of wheat and barley grown Jiere as I
ever beheld in England. All the land which I have seen cultivated
with anything like ordinary management produced abundantly. . . .
The crops raised here I should say will vary from twenty to thirty
bushels per acre, but the cultivation is often of the most slovenly
character. My opinion is that there is a numerous class of persons
in England whose circumstances in life would be materially bettered
by emigrating to this or one of the Australian Colonies. . . . Particu-
larly of this description possessing a capital of ;^300 ;^400 or ^^500
many in a short time have many comforts around them, and may
bid adieu to any fears as to how they shall provide for their beloved
offspring. I had on my outset here to contend with difficulties that
parties arriving here now would not even see — Cattle were dear,
also Sheep, having ail to be introduced at a great cost from adjoining
colonies. I paid ^19 per head for seven cows and ;^21 per head for
six bullocks not broken to the yoke. I could now purchase as good
cows and bullocks for £5 or £6 each. Sheep are also fallen in quite
as great a ratio. Sheep and cattle are as cheap now here as they
are in N.S.W. or Van Diemen’s Land. Labour was then very high
indeed, caused partly by the erection of the Government buildings
and the various buildings in the town. ... In short I may say that
labour and Capital have now found a working equilibrium. ... I
would sooner take my chance of settling in South Australia than
I would in any of the penal colonies. We have here in comparison
of them a moral, a virtuous population. ... We have several large
Places of Worship, some of which may be called elegant in reference
to their architectural structure. . . .

I will just conclude by saying that Sheep farming is considered
much more profitable than the cultivation of the soil, and in this
Colony there are many extensive districts of unoccupied land where
sheep or cattle stations may be formed without any danger of
interfering with or being interfered with by neighbours. . . .

The form of government here appears to produce a cringing,
slavish, sycophantic disposition in the inhabitants, who appear to
be very dependent upon any who are supposed to possess influence
with the governor, or who are connected with the administration
of law. The spirit of the people appears to be a sort of reflex of the
government. They do not seem to me to walk erect in all the
conscious dignity and nobleness of man.

[Note: For conditions in South Australia during the administration of Sir
George Grey see Papers Relative to the Affairs of South Australia, P,P, 1843,
XXXII, 505. See especially in that parliamentary paper: 1. Evidence to and

214 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Report of the Comrnittee of Council, appointed on the 17th of January, 1842,
on the state of the Pro\dnce of South Australia, in respect of its Agricultural
Prospects at%he present time, and other matters in connection therewith pp.
164-75. 2. Grey to Stanley, 26 December 1842, ibid., pp. 250-1.]

Appendix

1. Statistics on Migration from the United Kingdom^ 1825-51.

(App. No. 3 of Twelfth General Report of Colonial Land and
Emigration Commissioners. P.P. 1852, XVIII, 1499.)

Tears |

North \

American ]
Colonies ■

United

States

Australian
Colonies &
New Zealand

All

Other

Places

Total

1825

8,741 !

5,551

485

114

14,891

1826

12,818 !

7,063

903

116

20,900

1827

12,648 !

14,526

715

114

28,003

1828

12,084 j

12,817

1,056

135

26,092

1829

13,307

15,678

2,016

197

31,198

1830 1

30,574 !

24,887

1,242

204

56,907

1831 I

58,067 i

23,418

1,561

114

83.160

1832 j

66,339 I

32,872

3,733

196

103,140

1833 !

28,808 1

29,109

4,093

517

62,527

1834 1

40,060

33,074

2,800

288

76,222

1835 i

15,573

26,720

1,860

I 325

44,478

1836

34,226

: 37,774

3,124

1 293

75,417

1837

29,884

36,770

5,054

326

72,034

1838 ^

4,577

14,332 1

14,021

292

33,222

1839 !

12,658

33,536

15,786

227

62,207

1840 i

32,293

40,642 ’

15,850

1,958

90,743

1841 :

38,164

45,017

32,625

2,786

118,592

1842

54,123

1 63,852

8,534

1,835

128,344

1843

23,518

! 28,335

3,478

1,881

57,212

1844

22,924

43,660

2,229

1,873

70,686

1845

31,803

58,538

830

2,330

93,501

1846

43,439

82,239

2,347

1,826

129.851

1847

109,680

142,154

4,949

1,487

258', 270

1848

31,065

188,233

23,904

4,887

248,089

1849

41,367

219,450

32,091

6,590

299,498

1850

32,961

223,078

16,037

8,773

280,849

1851

42,605

267,357

21,532

4,472

335,966

Lotal

884,306

1,750,682

222,955

44,056

2,901,999

Average annual emigration from the^

United Kingdom for the last twenty- > 107,481
seven years J

S. Walcott, Secretary

Colonial Land and Emigration Office,

April 16, 1852.

IMMIGRATION

215

2. Statistics on Migration to Van Diemen’s Land, 1830-50.
(Returns showing Emigration from United Kingdf^m to \"an
Diemen’s Land. P.P. 1851, XLVI, 684.)

A. The following is a return of the number of emigrants arrived
in Van Diemen’s Land from the 1st. January 1831 to the 31st.
December 1837, contained in Governor Sir John Franklin’s des-
patch 13th February 1840. The places from whence they came
are not stated. : —

Tear

Souls

1830

523

1831

1,187

1832

1,896

1833

3,145

1834

2,092

1835

1,950

1836

1,591

1837

1,731

Total 14,115

B. Return of Emigrants, including the Wives and Families of
Convicts, from Great Britain to Van Diemen’s Land, 1838-1850.

Tear

Cabin
Passengers
{sex not
stated)

Steerage

Passengers

Wives and Families
of Convicts 1

Total

Males

Females

1838

1839

1840

1841

1842

Not

distinguished

ibid.

571

328

299

806

2,448

1843

1844

1845

1846

1847

—

1848

182

218

1849

179

160

535

1850

251

9 ;

Total

301

5,559

[Note: For an estimate of the number of immigrants to New South Wales
between 1829 and 1851 see R. B. Madgwick: Immigration into Eastern Ausiralia, p.
223. For other population figures see Section 8, D of this volume.]

216 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

SOURCES USED FOR SECTION 4

A. Official Sources

L Hktorical Records of Australia^ Series I.

2. Three Report;s of the Select Committee on Emigration
from the United Kingdom. P.P. 1826, IV, 404; 1826-7,
V, 84, 237; 1826-7, V, 550.^

3. Report of the Select Committee on the Disposal of Lands
in British Colonies. P.P. 1836, XI, 512.

4? Copies of Correspondence Respecting Emigration. P.P.
1837, XLIII, 358.

5. Third Report of the Colonisation Commissioners for South
Australia. P.P. 1839, XVII, 255.

6. Report of the Select Committee on South Australia. P.P.
1841, IV, 394.

7. Papers on South Australia from the arrival of Sir George
Grey. P.P. 1843, XXXII, 505.

8. Report of the Select Committee on Colonisation from
Ireland. Sessional Papers of the House of Lords 1847, Vol.
XXIII.

9. Returns showing the Emigration from the United Kingdom
to Van Diemen’s Land. P.P. 1851, XLVI, 684.

10. Twelfth General Report of the Colonial Land and Emigra-
tion Commissioners. P.P. 1852, XVIII, 1499.

11. Reports of the Committees on Immigration. V, and P. of the
Lesiis. Coun.ofKS.W, 1835, 1839 Vol. II, 1841, 1842, 1843,
1845.

12. Report of the Committee on Crown Lands. V, and P. of the
Legis, Coun. of NS. W. 1849, Vol. 11.

13. New South Wales Government Gazette.

14. Statutes at Large.

B. Other Primary Sources

1. Angas papers. (South Australian archives.)

2. Cobbett, W. : Rural Rides. 2 vols. Everyman ed.

3. Cunningham, P. : Two Tears in New South Wales. 2 vols.
3rd ed. 1828.

4. Notice to Toung Women desirous of bettering their condition etc.
(Broadsheet in Mitchell Library.)

5. Sydney Morning Herald^ 17 February 1840.

6. Wakefield, E. G. ; A Letter from Sydney etc. Everyman.

7. Wakefield, E, G. : England and America. 2 vols. 1834.

8. Wakefield, E. G. : The New British Province of South Australia
etc. 2nd ed. 1835.

9. Wakefield, E. G. : The Art of Colonisation. Everyman ed.

10. Wrong, E. M. : Charles Buller and Responsible Government. 1 926.

Section 5
LAND POLICY

There are two main periods in land policy before 1850. The
first, from 1788 to 1831, is the period when land was generally
obtained by a grant from the Governor. The second, from
1831 to 1850, begins with the introduction of the minimum
upset price in the Ripon regulations. In this period the
method by which land was sold or leased varied from year to
year, and from colony to colony. To illustrate this period
adequately would require at least a book of documents, so in
this section the land policy illustrated is mainly the land policy
for eastern Australia. For Tasmania, South Australia, and
Western Australia, see S. H. Roberts: History of Australian
Land Settlement^ Chs 5, 6, 11 and 12, and especially the valuable
footnote references to the documents. For opinion in Western
Australia on the effect of the land laws and regulations see
Section 7, C, 32 of this volume. The section begins with a
chronological summary of the main events.

LAND POLICY: 1787-1850

The Land Grants.

D. The Minimum Upset

The Case for a Mini-

Price and Leases.

mum Upset Price,

E. The Order in Council,

The Attempts to Pre-
vent Dispersion.

1847.

1787. The Governor instructed to make land grants to emancipists.

1789. The Governor to make land grants to free settlers.

1831. Ripon regulations. Five Shillings per acre to be the minimum
upset price for land.

1838. Minimum upset price increased from five shillings to
twelve shillings.

1840. Uniform fixed price of £l per acre in Port Phillip.

1842. Waste Lands Act, 5 & 6 Viet. c.36. ^1 per acre to be
minimum upset price.

1846. Sale of Waste Land Act, 9 & 10 Viet. c.4.

1847. Order in Council.

218 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

A. The Land Grants

?■

1, Phillip Empowered to make Land Grants. 1789.
i Enc. in Grenville to Phillip, 22 August 1789. H.R.A. I, 1, pp. 124-6.)
Additional Instructions to Our Trusty and Well-beloved
Arthur Phillip, Esq., Our Captain- General and Governor-in-
Chief in and over Our Territory called New South Wales.
Given at Our Court at St. James, the twentieth day of August,
1<^89, in the twenty-ninth year of our reign.

Whereas it has been represented unto Us that assurances were
given to the non-commission officers and men belonging to the
detachment of Our Marine Forces serving on the continent of
New South Wales that such of the said non-commission officers and
men as shall have behaved well shall be allowed to quit Our Service
on their return to England, or be discharged abroad upon the
relief (designed to take place at the expiration of three years after
their landing) and be permitted to settle in that country. And
whereas it is probable that in consequence of that engagement some
of the said non-commission officers and men will be desirous of
continuing in that settlement or upon the islands comprised within
Your Government: And as persons of that description will be of
great utility in the new settlements, not only for the purposes of
protection and defence, but for the cultivation of the land : We have
thought it advisable that every reasonable encouragement should be
held out to them to induce them to be aiding in such salutary
purposes. It is therefore Our Royal Will and Pleasure that You do
issue Your Warrant to the Surveyor-General to survey and allot
to such of the non-commission officers and men as shall be disposed
to become settlers within Your Government, on their desiring the
same, the proportions of land hereinafter mentioned, subject,
however, to the following conditions and regulations : —

To every non-commission officer one hundred acres, and to
every private man fifty acres, over and above the quantity directed
by Our General Instructions to You to be granted to such convicts
as may hereafter be emancipated or discharged from their servitude,
free of all fees, taxes, quit rents, and other acknowledgments
for the space of ten years ; but after the expiration of that time to be
liable to an annual quit rent of one shilling for every ten acres. . . .

And whereas from the disposition of many people to emigrate
from this country there is a great probability that some of them
may be desirous of becoming settlers in New South Wales or the said
islands dependent thereupon: It is also Our Will and Pleasure that
in case persons of that description should arrive from hence, or
from any other part of Our Dominions, and apply to You for
grants of land, Ypu do afford them every encouragement that can

LAND POLICY

219

be given in that undertaking, without subjecting the public to
expence; and that grants of land to such amount as youthall judge
proper shall be made out for each person applying, not e^xceeding,
however, in quantity the number of acres which you are hereby
instructed to grant to non-commission officers l?efore mentioned, and
subject to the same quit rents payable unto Us at the expiration
of five years after the passing of such grant. . . .

2* Land to fee Granted to Emancipists. 1787.

(Instructions to Phillip, 25 April 1787. H.R.A. I, 1, pp. 14-15.)

[Note: For the use made of these land grants up to 1820 see J. T. Bigge:
State of N.S.W., p. 140, and Section 3, I, 39 of this volume.]

And whereas we have by our Commission, bearing date [2nd
April] 1787, given and granted upon you full power and authority
to emancipate and discharge from their servitude any of the
convicts under your superintendance who shall, from their good
conduct and a disposition to industry, be deser\dng of favour:
It is our will and pleasure that in every such case you do issue your
warrant to the Surveyor of Lands to make surveys of and mark out in
lots such lands upon the said territory as may be necessary for their
use ; and when that shall be done, that you do pass grants thereof
with all convenient speed to any of the said convicts so emancipated,
in such proportions and under such conditions and acknowledg-
ments as shall hereafter be specified, viz. : — To every male shall be
granted 30 acres of land, and in case he shall be married, 20 acres
more; arid for every child who may be with them at the settlement
at the time of making the said grant, a further quantity of 10 acres,
free of all fees, taxes, quit rents, or other acknowledgments whatso-
ever, .for the space of ten years : Provided that the person to whom
the said land shall have been granted shall reside within the same
and proceed to the cultivation and improvement thereof; reserving
only to us such timber as may be growing, or to grow hereafter,
upon the said land which may be fit for naval purposes, and an
annual quit rent of [blank in MS.] after the expiration of the term
or time before mentioned. You will cause copies of such grants as
may be passed to be preserved, and make a regular return of the
said grants to the Commissioners of our Treasury and the Lords of
the Committee of our Privy Council for Trade and Plantations.

And whereas it is likely to happen that the convicts who may
after their emancipation, in consequence of this instruction, be
put in possession of lands will not have the means of proceeding to
their cultivation without public aid: It is our will and pleasure that
you do cause every such person you may so emancipate to be
supplied with such a quantity of provisions as may be sufficient for
the subsistence of himself, and also of his family, for twelve months.

220 SELECT I^OCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

together with an assortment of tools and utensils, and such a propor-
tion of sedi-grain, cattle, sheep, hogs, &c., as may be proper, and
can be spared from the general stock of the settlement.

3, An Example of £. Land Grant. 1791.

(Enc. No. 1 in Phillip to Nepean, 18 November 1791. H,R.A. I,
1, pp. 310-11.)

FORM OF GRANT OF LAND
«By His Excellency Arthur Phillip, Esqr., Captain-General and
Governor-in-Chief in and over His Majesty’s Territory of
New South Wales and its Dependencies, &c., &c., &c.

WHEREAS full Power and Authority for Granting Lands in the
Territoiy of New South Wales, to such Persons as may be desirous
of becoming Settlers therein, is vested in me. His Majesty’s Captain-
General and Governor-in-Chief in and over the said Territory and
its Dependencies, by His Majesty’s Instructions under Royal Sign
Manual bearing date respectively the Twenty-fifth day of April,
One thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and the Twentieth
Day of August, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

In pursuance of the Power and Authority vested in me as afore-
said, I do by these Presents Give and Grant unto P.S. His Heirs and
assigns to have and to hold for ever. One Hundred and forty Acres
of Land in One Lot, to be known by the name of THE VINE- YARD
laying on the North side of the Creek leading to Parramatta and
crossed by a Publick Road of One hundred feet in breadth; the
said One hundred and forty Acres of Land to be had and held by
him the said P.S. his heirs and assigns, free from all Fees, Taxes,
Quit Rents and other acknowledgments, for the space of Five
Years, from the date of these Presents, Provided that the said P.S.
his heirs or assigns shall reside within the same, and proceed to the
improvement and cultivation thereof; such Timber as may be
growing, or to grow hereafter upon the said Land, which may be
deemed fit for Naval Purposes, to be reserved for the use of the
Grown, and paying an annual Quit Rent of one Shilling for every
Fifty Acres after the expiration of the Term or Time of Five Years
before mentioned.

In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and the
Seal of my Arms (The Seal of the Territory not being yet
received) at Government House, Sydney, in the Territory of
New South Wales, this Thirtieth Day of March in the year of
Our Lord, One thousand seven hundred and ninety-one.

A.P. (L.S.)

rj.w.

Signed and Sealed in Our Presence, — < RJ.

IJ.P.

LAND POLICY 221

4. The Secretary of State Recommends a Settler for a Land
Grant. 1816.

(Bathurst to Macquarie, 6 April 1816. I, 9, p. 106,)

I am to acquaint you that Mr. Harry Thr^ipp has received my
permission to proceed as a Settler to the Colony under your Govern-
ment, and l am to desire that you will allot to him a grant of Land
in proportion to the means he possesses of cultivating it, and extend
to him the other Privileges and Indulgences that have been grafted
to Settlers of his Glass.

[Note: 1. For a summary of the land grant system, 1788-1820, see J. T.
Bigge : Agriculture and Trade, pp. 33-7.

2. For a list of land grants by Macquarie between 1812 and 1821 see H.R.A.
I, 10, pp. 560-6.]

5. Reasons for Failure to Fulfil Conditions in Land Grants.

1820.

(J. T. Bigge: Agriculture and Trade, p. 37.)

The frequent violation that has taken place of the rule prescribed
by His Majesty’s instructions, of not selling, transferring, or alien-
ating the land, until after the term of five years, and the facility
with which this violation has been practised, has certainly had some
effect in producing indifference on the part of the grantees to the
duty of perfecting their own titles.

The condition of cultivating a certain proportion of land granted
in New South Wales has certainly not been strictly observed; and
it is the opinion of the surveyor-general, that it never will be observed
as long as the quantity of produce is regulated solely by the wants of
government. It is stated by this officer, that no instance has yet
taken place of any resumption by the crown of land that had been
granted, on account of the breach of this condition. In the year 1814,
a public notice was issued by Governor Macquarie, in which it was
declared, that ‘'as it had been ascertained that several persons who
had obtained locations of land, in the years 1809, 1810, and 1811,
with a promise that grants should be made to them, under the
express stipulation that they would proceed to clear and cultivate
them, had neglected to comply with those stipulations;” notice was
given, that such lands having reverted to the crown, were to be
located by the surveyor to other persons, reserving to the original
occupiers an indemnity for such expense as they had incurred in
felling timber, and the payment of which was to be made by the
new occupants. A claim appears to have been made, and was
attempted to be enforced upon a small portion of land at Windsor,
that was found to be inclosed within the allotment of an individual,
and under a belief that it belonged to the crown ; bqt the claim was

222 SELECT D^OGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

upon better consideration abandoned, and the individual has not
since been^isturbed in his possession.

Until ^ sufficient market was opened for the sale of the produce
of the land, or until the only addition of which it was susceptible had
been made, by the permission to distil spirits from grain, the enforce-
ment of the condition of cultivation would neither have been exped-
ient or just. Any indication therefore of an attempt to cultivate has
been regarded as coming within the condition of the grant, and the
contraction put upon it has been of the most liberal kind. I would
here take an opportunity of observing, that the condition
of cultivation is one that ought constantly to be kept in view in the
granting of lands, yet such is the variety of soil in New South Wales,
and the impossibility or obvious [fj utility of bringing some parts of it
into cultivation, on account of their natural sterility, or the quantity
of heavy timber with which they are encumbered, that the literal
and sometimes partial enforcement of the condition, must operate
as an expulsion of the proprietor.

B. The Case for a Minimum Upset Price

6. The Secretary of State Presents the Case. 1831.

(Goderich to Darling, 9 January 1831. H,RA, I, 16, pp. 19-22.)

My attention has lately been drawn to the present system of
granting land in the Colony over which you preside, in consequence
of finding on my assuming the Seals of this Department that
answers had not been returned to your despatches of the dates noted
in the margin; and the conclusion to which I have come, after a
careful investigation of the subject, and after considering the various
documents relating to it in this office, is first that the Regulations
now in force have not had the intended effect of preventing large
tracts of land from being appropriated by Persons unable to improve
and cultivate them, and Secondly that they are founded upon an
erroneous view of the true interest both of the Colony and of the
Mother Country.

The comparative Return of the quantities of land granted,
cleared, and cultivated affords the most decisive proof how little
the regulation, requiring cultivation, has been attended to; this
result does not surprise me, nor do I think it implies any want of
activity on the part of those whose duty it is to eriforce compliance
with the condition referred to ; the term cultivation is so vague, the
amount of capital required to be expended is so small, and the
difficulty is so great of resuming a Grant after seven years (until the
expiration of which no right of interference exists), that I am
inclined to believe that any serious attempt generally to act up to
the Regulations #would be odious and invidious in the extreme, and

LAND POLICY

223

at last fail to surmount the obstacles with which it must necessarily
be met. But, though the existing Regulations have not^revented
grants of land from being obtained for other purposes lhan the
legitimate one of occupation and cultivation, there is no doubt that
they must have been the cause of no trifling inconvenience (from the
restrictions imposed on the transfer of land, and from the necessity
of proving their possession of a certain capital) to those who bona
fide entertained such intentions. The Government they have placed
in the disagreeable situation of either suffering Regulations, ihey
have sanctioned, to become a dead letter, or of interfering in a
manner which must necessarily have the appearance of being-
arbitrary and capricious, from the impossibility of laying down any
positive rule or defining exactly the required degree of cultivation.

The scheme of deriving a Revenue from quit Rents seems to me
also to be condemned both by reason and experience. The difficulty
and expences of collecting them cannot be expected to diminish,
while the great bulk of the land, on which they are due, continues
unimproved; and when it shall be cultivated, the encrease of
population and wealth, which such a state of things supposes, will
render the Revenue, to be derived from so small a tax as twopence
an acre, of trifling importance and easily to be supplied from other
sources.

There is also another and very strong objection to the existing
system, viz., the suspicion to which it unavoidably exposes the
Colonial Authorities of improper partiality to Individuals. I am
sure you must have found the impossibility of giving satisfaction
to all the applicants for land and of reconciling contending interests,
and that you will gladly be relieved from the irksome and ungracious
task of endeavouring to do so.

In calling your attention to the second question, which I proposed,
namely, whether or not (supposing them to have been as effectual
as could be desired) the existing Regulations were founded on
correct views of the true interest of the Mother Country and ol
the Colonies, I must, in the first place, observe that I concdvc
these views to have been directed chiefly to promote the greatest
possible extension of cultivation, and the emigration of Persons
possessed of more or less capital; considering Emigration as a
means of relieving the Mother Country, it is quite clear that no
such relief can possibly be afforded by the mere removal of Capit-
alists; that it is the emigration of the unemployed British Labourers,
which would be of real and essential service while I think it also
appears that this would be the most useful class of Emigrants,
even as regards the Colony, from the extreme difficulty which is
now complained of in obtaining Labourers, and the competition
for the service of Convicts; together with the glut which so frequent-

224 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

ly takes place of Agricultural produce at the price at which, under
the presei^t system, it can be afforded. The latter circumstance
seems likewise to prove that a mere extension of cultivation is
much less desirable than is generally supposed. Wheat, it appears,
is sometimes at so high a price as i4s. 9d. a Bushel in Sydney, a price
which even in this country would be deemed extravagant. Indeed I
believe the average price of Wheat in Sydney Market would be
found equal to that, which it bears in Great Britain, and yet the
waift of demand for their produce is to the Colonists a subject of
loud and frequent complaint. These two apparently inconsistent
evils of a high price and of a want of demand lead me to believe
that cultivation has been too widely extended, and that it would
have been more for the interests of the Colony, if the Settlers,
instead of spreading themselves over so great an extent of ter-
ritory, had rather applied themselves to the more effectual improve-
ment and cultivation of a narrower surface. With concert and
mutual assistance, the result of the same labour would probably
have been a greater amount of produce ; and the cost of transporting
it to market would have been a less heavy item in the total cost of
production. A different course however has been pursued, chiefly,
as it appears, owing to the extreme facility of acquiring land, by
which every man has been encouraged to become a Proprietor,
producing what he can by his own unassisted efforts. If these views
be correct, what is now required is to check this extreme facility,
and to encourage the formation of a class of labourers for hire, as
the only means of creating a Market for the Agricultural produce
of the Colony, of effecting various improvements, and of prosecuting
the many branches of industry which are now neglected, while at
the same time, by enabling the Agriculturist to apply the great
principle of the division of labor, his produce will be encreased and
afforded at a more reasonable rate.

To carry these views into full effect would perhaps require
greater alterations than can at present conveniently be adopted.
Something has, however, been already done by the alteration of
the Law, which renders indentures entered into by Labourers
more binding than they have heretofore been, thereby holding out
some additional inducement to those possessed of the means to
assist in defraying the expence of their emigration.

Another and important advance towards a better system may,

I think, be made by a measure, simple and easy in itself, and which
will at the same time have much more effect in preventing the
occupation of land by persons unable or unwilling to improve it
than the present complicated and, in practise, nugatory Regulations.
The measure, to which I allude, is that of declaring that, in future,
no land whatever shall be disposed of otherwise than by sale, a

LAND POLICY

225

minimum price (say five shillings an acre) being fixed, but this
price not to be accepted, until upon proper notice it st^ll appear
that no one is prepared to oflfer more, the highest bidder being in all
cases entitled to the preference, ten per cent on the whole of the
purchase money to be paid down at the tiJne of sale, and the
remainder at an early period after the sale and previous to possession
being granted. This last Regulation I conceive to be of great
importance, and it ought uniformly to be adhered to. When land
was formerly disposed of by sale, the plan seems to have failed in
consequence of the long credit which was given.

Such is the general object of the Regulations, which I hope
shortly to be enabled to send out to you in more detail, and author-
ized by His Majesty’s signature. In the meantime, I should wish
you to suspend all further grants of land, excepting to persons to
whom you may already have made positive promises, and to those
who may have received from this office the printed Regulations
hitherto in force, and have proceeded to the Colony on the faith
of obtaining land accordingly. To immediate sales of land upon the
principle I have now laid down, I do not object, if they can conven-
iently be effected, before you receive more particular instructions.

[Note: 1. For Wakefield’s opinions on this subject see Section 4, C, 5-8 of
this volume. See also his evidence to the Select Committee on the Disposal of
Land in British Colonies, P.P. 1836, XI, 512.

2. In this dispatch the Secretary of State gives two main reasons for the change
in the regulations: the need to prevent dispersion of settlement, and the need
for an adequate labour supply. For the success or otherwise of the attempts to
secure the latter, see Section 4, F, 33 of this volume. The methods used to check
dispersion, and their effect, are illustrated in the next set of documents. After
that, the regulations to enforce a minimum upset price, and the reaction of the
colonists to these regulations, are illustrated.]

C. The Attempts to Prevent Dispersion

?• The Limits of Location. 1829.

{Sydney Gazette, 17 October 1829.)

[Note : The first definition of the limits of location was published in the Sydney
Gazette on 6 September 1826. For the extension of the limits of location between
1829 and 1850 see B. Fitzpatrick: The British Empire in Australia, p. 63.]

GOVERNMENT ORDER

Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Sydney, Oct. 14, 1829

His Excellency the Governor directs it to be notified, with
Reference to the 5th Paragraph of the Government Order of 5th
September, 1826, No. 35, that the Boundaries of the Colony
within which Settlers will be permitted to select Land have been
fixed, for the present, as follows, viz. —

226 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

On the North

The Rivei* Manning, from the Sea-Coast, Westward, to the Chain
of ^Mountains at the Head of that River; and that Chain, extending
in a general Direction nearly Westward, from Mount Royal to a
Conical Summit distant four and a half Miles, North 46 ° West,
from the Burning Hill at Wingan, and continuing thence Westward,
by Oxley’s Peak and Pandora’s Pass, to where it is intersected by a
Line due North from the Station at Wellington Valley; so as to
inchide all the Streams, Valleys, and Ravines which descend to the
Rivers Goulburn and Hunter.

On the West

The Line above-mentioned to the Station on the Junction of the
Rivers Bell and Macquarie, at Wellington Valley; thence the
Macquarie to the Junction of the Currigurra Rivulet at the North-
Western Angie of the County of Bathurst; thence the Western
Boundary of that County, as described below, and a Line in
Continuation thereof bearing due South to the Pic of Pabral, a
remarkable Mountain of a Conical Form; and thence the Moun-
tains of Warragong, a lofty Chain which extends first Southward
from Pabral, and then Eastward.

On the South

The Chain of Mountains extending from Mount Murray, the
highest Point of Warragong Chain, by the Twins, two remarkable
Pics in the Latitude of Bateman Bay, named Tindery by the
Natives; and thence an East Line to the Shoal-Haven River at the
South-Western Angie of the ‘County of Saint Vincent, and that
River and the River Murroo, according to the County Boundary,
as described below, to the Sea-Coast.

On the East

The Sea-coast, from the Mouth of the Murroo, to the Mouth of

the Manning. ^

Contents

Thirty-four thousand five hundred and five, 34,505, Square Miles,
or Twenty-two Million Eighty-three thousand and two hundred,
22,083,200 Acres.

[Then follows a list with comments on the nineteen Counties.]

8. TJie New South Wales ParHameut Legislates against
Unauthorized Occupation of Crown Lands. 1833.

(T. Callaghan: Acts and Ordinances,)

An Act for protecting the Crown Lands of this Colony from
encroachment, intrusion, and trespass. 4 Will. IV, No. 10.
(28th Aug. 1833.)

Whereas it is expedient and necessary to protect the crown lands
of this Colony from encroachment, intrusion, and trespass thereon,

LAND POLICY

227

and to prevent the unauthorised occupation thereof from being
considered as giving any legal title thereto: Be it therefore enacted
by His Excellency the Governor of New South Wales, with the
advice of the Legislative Council thereof, That from ancf after the
passing of this Act, it shall and may be lawful for the Governor of this
Colony, by warrant under his hand and seal, to appoint so many
fit and proper persons as he shall think fit, to be, and the said persons
shall thereupon be, and be called Commissioners of Crown Lands in the
Colony of New South Wales ^ and the said persons, and each of them,
shall continue in office as such, during the pleasure of the said
Governor; and the said commissioners, or any two or more of them,
shall and may during their continuance in office as aforesaid, do
and perform by and under direction of the Governor for and on
behalf of His Majesty, His Heirs, and Successors, in, upon, or in
respect of, any crown lands in this Colony, all such lawful acts,
matters, and things for preventing intrusion, encroachment, and
trespass thereon, or for such other purpose, as any bailiff or bailiffs,
lawfully appointed, may by law do or perform in, upon, or in
respect of, any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, of his or their
employer or employers,

[Note: Other attempts to achieve this by legislation were:

1. Act 7 Will. IV, No. 4 of 29 July 1836, entitled “An Act to restrain the
unauthorised occupation of Crown Lands”.

2. Act 2 Viet., No. 19 of 2 October 1838, entitled “An Act to continue and
amend an Act, intituled, an Act to restrain the unauthorised occupation of
Crown Lands”.

3. Act 2 Viet., No. 27 of 22 March 1839, entitled “An Act further to restrain
the unauthorised occupation of Crown Lands, and to provide the means of
defraying the expense of a Border Police”.

These Acts are printed in T. Callaghan: Op. cit.]

9* Dispersion of Settlement Inevitable. 1840.

(Gipps’s Memorandum on Disposal of Lands in the Australian
Colonies. Enc. in Gipps to Russell, 19 December 1840. H,R,A.
I, 21, p. 127.)

In a Colony like Demerara, where land is used for scarcely any
purpose but cultivation, and cultivation too of the most expensive
sort, the theory might perhaps be practically applied; but, to a
pastoral country like Australia, it is evidently altogether
inapplicable. It may be essential however here to observe that
wherever land is of a quality or in a locality, which renders it fit
for cultivation, as in districts of superior fertility or in the neighbour-
hood of Towns, it is usually divided into much smaller lots than
Sections of Square miles; such smaller divisions are called “Culti-
vation allotments”, the word Section being made use of only for
grazing land, and they are made to vary from 20 to 320 acres.

228 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

When in the neighbourhood of large Towns as Melbourne, they
are called r^Suburban allotments’’.

But if the theory, by which it is sought to make persons cultivate
lands in "Australia in the natural order of their advantages, be
altogether incapablefof good, that, which would seek to prevent
the dispersion of the People, is only incapable of mischief, because
it is utterly impossible to reduce it to practice. As well might it be
attempted to confine the Arabs of the Desert within a circle,
traced upon their sands, as to confine the Graziers or Woolgrowers
of New South Wales within any bounds that can possibly be assigned
to them; and as certainly as the Arabs would be starved, so also
\vould the flocks and herds of New South Wales, if they were so
confined, and the prosperity of the Country be at an end.

The time will come, if the Colony continue to prosper, when it
may be more desirable (that is to say profitable) for a proprietor
to improve the land he holds, so as to make its produce suffice for
his increasing flocks than to seek (as is the present practice) for new
lands in distant regions; but it may perhaps be wiser to let this
time arrive naturally, as it will, than to attempt to accelerate it
by any contrivances.

D. The Minimum Upset Price and Leases

10. Land Regulations. 1831.

(Note 116, H.RA, I, 16, pp. 864-7.)

His Excellency the Governor directs it to be notified that all
Crown Lands will in future be disposed of only according to the
Regulations published in the Government Notice of the 1st of last
month ; and that the following course of proceeding will be observed
in carrying the same into effect.

SALE

1. As soon as the necessary arrangements have been completed,
with respect to the survey of a parish, notice will be published
in the Gazette that a chart thereof will be exhibited in the Surveyor-
General’s Office for public information, shewing its boundaries,
the public reserves, the lands already appropriated, and those
remaining for sale; the latter being divided by lines into sections
of one square mile, or six hundred and forty acres, as nearly as
practicable, and such section distinguished by a numerical. mark;
together with a schedule pointing out and describing the natural
and artificial marks corresponding with the division lines of every
such section.

2. Notice will at the same time be given in the Gazette, that such
lands, after the expiration of three months, will become disposable.

LAND POLICY

229

3. All offers and transactions of every kind, relative to such disposa-
ble lands, must be effected with reference to the before-mentioned
public charts and schedules.

4. If any person shall be desirous of purchasing lands, so notified
as disposable, it will be necessary to make application through the
Surveyor-General, in a printed form, copies of which may be
obtained on application at his Office, on payment of a fee of 2s. fid.
for each.

5. If the spot applied for should contain less than six hundred and
forty acres, the reasons for the applicant’s wishing to obtain it must
be fully explained ; as it is not intended to dispose of land in smaller
quantities, unless upon special grounds.

6. All lands, for the purchase of which application shall be made,
will be advertised for one month, and will then be sold by public
auction to the highest bidder, in lots of one section, or six hundred
and forty acres, as nearly as practicable, provided that the price
offered shall at least amount to the sum of five shillings per acre.

7. But before the bidding is accepted, the party will be required to
pay down a deposit of 10 per cent, on the amount of the purchase
money, and to sign an engagement to pay the balance within one
calendar month, under penalty of forfeiting the deposit.

8. If payment be not made within the prescribed period, the deposit
will be forfeited accordingly, and the land will again be open to
the selection of the public.

13. The Grown will reserve to itself the right of making and con-
structing such roads and bridges as may be necessary for public
purposes in all lands purchased as above; and also to such indigenous
timber, stone, or other materials, the produce of the land, as may
be required for making and keeping the said roads and bridges
in repair, and for any other public purposes. The Crown will
further reserve to itself all mines of coals and of precious metals.

15. All free persons will be eligible as purchasers of land without
any limitation as to quantity.

RETIRED OFFICERS

Ifi. The same advantages will be extended to Officers of His
Majesty’s Navy and Marines retiring from the service, or going
on half pay, as are held out to Military Officers by the regulations
for the disposal of land, published in the Government Notice of
the 1st of July last, viz.: —

17. All Officers desirous of becoming settlers shall, like other
individuals, procure land only by purchase at the public sales;

230 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

but they will be entitled to a remission of the purchase money
according* to the respective periods of their service, as follows:—
I’hose \vho have served Twenty years and upwards, ^{^300; Fifteen
years and upwards, ^*^250; Ten years and upwards, £200; Seven
years and upwards,^£i50.

1 8. Officers who have not served seven years will have no claim to
any advantages under this Regulation; nor will any Officer be
entitled thereto, unless, if Military, he shall produce the written
permission of the General Commander-in- Chief, or the Commander
of the Forces in India, to go on half pay, or to retire from the
service /or the purpose of settling in the Colony i or if of the Navy or
Marines, a similar permission from the Lords Commissioners of
the Admiralty.

19. All Officers desirous of availing themselves of these Regulations
must enter into a bond for £500, that either they, or their families,
will reside in this Colony for seven years.

DISCHARGED SOLDIERS

23. Non-commissioned Officers and Privates, discharged from the
service/or the purpose of settling in the Colony^ will be allowed Free Grants
to the following extent, viz.: — Serjeants, 200 acres; Corporals
and Private Soldiers, 100 ditto.

LEASES

24. xA.ll Crown Lands within the prescribed limits will, if applied
for, be let by Auction, in lots of one square mile, or six hundred
and forty acres each, as nearly as practicable.

25. Persons desirous of renting such lands will address themselves
to the Surveyor General, taking care to describe accurately the
situation of each section applied for.

26. The lands so applied for will be advertised for one month, and
the lease of each lot for one year will then be put up to Public Auction.

27. No lot consisting of less than one square mile, or six hundred
and forty acres, will be let, except in special cases, which may
render expedient a departure from this rule.

28. Each lot will be put up at a rent of twenty shillings a year, and
the highest bidding (not less than that sum) will be accepted.

29. Il is to be distinctly understood that the lands so let will be open
for purchase; and, in the event of their being sold, must be sur-
rendered by the lessee upon one month’s notice.

30. At the expiration of the year, the lease of each lot will be again
put to Auction for the year ensuing.

By Command of His Excellency the Governor,
ALEXANDER MCLEAY.

LAND POLICY 231

11. The Case for an Increase in the Minimum Price of
Land. 1838. •

(Glenelg to Gipps, 9 August 1838. H.RA. 19, pp. 537-8.)

With reference to the Correspondence, w^ich has taken place
between your predecessor and myself as to the expediency of
raising the minimum price of Crown Land in New South \V ales,
I have to acquaint you that Her Majesty’s Government are of
opinion that the time has arrived when the interests of the Cqjiony
require that a considerably higher price should be affixed to land
than that which was named by Lord Ripon as the minimum price
in 1831, and which was clearly intended to be merely experimental.
The object of the change of system introduced by Lord Ripon was
to remedy the great want of labour, which was at that time com-
plained of in the Colony, by providing the pecuniary means of
assisting emigration, and at the same time preventing the undue
dispersion of the Emigrants. The result has been to refute the
arguments with which the change of system was originally opposed,
and completely to justify the principle on which Lord Ripon’s
regulations were based. In order, however, to give full effect to
that principle, it is indispensable that the price of Land should now
be considerably raised. So far as regards the encouragement of
Emigration, the measure has to a considerable degree succeeded,
but the extent of Land which has been sold and the increasing want
of labour affords decisive proof that the check, which it w^as intended
to impose on the undue dispersion of the Inhabitants of the Colony,
has not been sufficient. It is only by raising the minimum price
of Land or by restricting the quantity offered for Sale that the end
in view can be obtained, because in the present circumstances of
the Colony, tho’ competition may determine the relative value of
different allotments of Land, while none is offered for Sale than can
be profitably occupied, it is obvious that the minimum price
demanded by the Government will determine the saleable value
of Land, which has no peculiar advantages either from its neigh-
bourhood to a market or from its natural fertility.

I have, therefore, to instruct you forthwith to substitute i2s.
for 5s. as the upset price of Land of ordinary quality. I have at the
same time to desire that you will closely watch the effects produced
by this enhancement of the price, with a view of ascertaining
whether it may not be necessary to carry it still higher in order to
accomplish the purpose for which the measure is intended. If you
should perceive that the extension of the population into the
unsettled Districts should still proceed with a rapidity beyond what
is desirable, and that the want of labour still continues to be serious-
ly felt, or if you should have reason to believe that large purchases
are made on speculation, you will without waiting for further

232 SELECT r^OCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

instructions from me take measures for checking the Sale of Land
even at th? price of 12s. an acre. But, as inconvenience would arise
from the^ frequent announcements of changes in the upset price
of Land, it will be gpcpedient to impose this check not in the first
instance by declaring such a further change in the minimum upset
price, but by restricting the extent of Land offered for Sale only
to Lands of a quality inferior to that which is likely to be in demand
for cultivation, putting a proportionally higher price upon good
land. In this manner, a considerable augmentation might by
degrees be made in the price which land would fetch, and the
upset price might be again ultimately raised with less difficulty
than would probably be experienced if this rise were to precede
instead of following that which would take place in the Market.
P.S. — ^You will of course understand the Instructions contained
in this Dispatch as applying to Port Phillip equally with other
parts of the Colony of New South Wales.

[Note: The increase in the minimum price from five shillings to twelve
shillings per acre was announced in the New South Wales Government Gazette of
17 January 1839.]

12- Regulations for Leases Witbin and Licences Beyond the
Limits of Location. 1839.

Govt Gazette^ 22 May 1839.)

[Note: For the history of licences to pasture flocks outside the boundaries of
location from 1828-39 see a footnote in T. Callaghan: Op. cit., Vol. I p. 361
et seq^l

Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Sydney, 21st May, 1839.
CROWN LANDS

In pursuance of the Act of the Governor and Council passed in
the second year of Her Majesty’s Reign, intituled Act further
to restrain the unauthorised occupation of Crown Lands, and to provide the
means of defraying the expense of a Border Police^^ ; His Excellency the
Governor directs it to be notified, that from and after the 1st day
of July next, any persons who shall be found occupying any Crown
Lands within the limits of location fixed by the Government Order
of the 14th day of October, 1829, or that may hereafter be allotted
for location by any Proclamation or Order of the Governor publish-
iL 'lA' behalf, either by residing or by erecting any hut or
Imilding thereon, or by clearing, enclosing, or cultivating any part
thereof, without holding a valid lease from the Government for
the occupation of such Lands; And any person who shall be found
so occup^ng any Crown Lands beyond the said limits of location
without holding a valid License for depasturing Cattle and other
otock under these Regulations, or a valid License to cut Cedar or

LAND POLICY

233

other Timber under the separate Notice of this date, will be
respectively liable to the penalties imposed by the said Aft, namely,
for the first offence, any sum not exceeding Ten Pounds, at the
discretion of the Justice or Justices before \vhom the complaint
shall be heard; for the second offence, Twenty Pounds; and for
the third or any subsequent offence. Fifty Pounds; the penalties
to be recovered within the boundaries, in a summary way, before
any Justice of the Peace, upon information and complaint on oath
of any Justice of the Peace, Commissioner of Crown Land», or
Proprietor or Lessee of Lands, or the Chief Constable of any District;
and, without the boundaries, upon the like information of any
Justice of the Peace, Licensed Person, or his Overseer, or Manager,
or of any Constable duly appointed for such purpose.

Leases of vacant Crown Lands within the limits of location will
continue to be given in the terms and under the Regulations
prescribed by the Government Order of 1st August, 1831, the
proper officer being instructed not to permit any person to become
a Lessee of Crown Lands unless he shall be satisfied that such
person is of honest and respectable character.

Applications for Licenses to depasture the vacant Crown Lands
beyond the limits of location are to be made to the Commissioner
of the District in the Form marked A annexed, and that Officer,
if he approve of the same, will forward them to the Colonial Treasur-
er in Sydney, or, if required for the District of Port Phillip, to the
Sub-Collector of Customs at Melbourne, in order that the License
may be prepared.

Each License will be chargeable with a fee of Ten Pounds, to
be paid to the Colonial Treasurer in Sydney, or, if for the District
of Port Phillip, to the Sub-Collector at Melbourne, previously to
its issue, and will be in the Form annexed marked B.

Persons desirous of depasturing in more Districts than one must
make separate applications, and take out separate Licenses for
each, but the fee will be chargeable to the same party for the same
period upon one License only, for two contiguous Districts.

The Licenses will be granted for One Year, commencing on the
1st July next, and renewable for the ensuing years in the months of
May and June preceding, upon the application of the holder,
in the same form and manner as for an original License; and any
License not renewed by the first day of July in each year will be
renewable only on payment of a double fee.

Such new Licenses as may be granted to persons desirous of
depasturing subsequently to the 1st January in any year, will be
chargeable with half the amount of the regulated fee, but will
determine in like manner as other Licenses on the 30th June next
ensuing. It is to be distinctly understood that no applicant for a

234 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

License will be entitled to any benefit or protection from the same,
until the ^e for the current period be actually paid, and the
License issued in his favor by the Colonial Treasurer, or Sub-
Collector*at Tvlelbourne. The names of the persons so licensed will
be published in that Government Gazette for the information and
guidance of the Commissioners and other persons entrusted with
the execution of the Act. Applicants will be held responsible for
any omission of their Agents to take out the Licenses after their
applications shall have been transmitted by the Commissioners to
the Colonial Treasurer or Sub-Collector, and will therefore be
careful to cause them to be furnished with the necessary instructions
accordingly.

Any improvement effected upon Crown Land depastured under
the authority of a License will be at the risk of the party holding
the same; as such Land, whenever it may be deemed expedient
to extend the boundaries of location, will be liable to be put up
to competition at public auction in the same manner as other
unalienated Crown Lands.

Any Justice of the Peace has povm' to cancel such License, if the
person holding the same be convicted on the oath of any one or
more credible witness or witnesses of any felony, or of illegally
selling fermented or spirituous liquors, or of wilfully harbouring
any convict or felon illegally at large, or of any malicious injury
committed upon or against any Aboriginal Native or other person,
or of any other offence which shall actually endanger the peace and
good order of any District, or tend to obstruct the due execution
of this Act; subject however to a right of appeal to the nearest
Court of Petty Sessions within one month. And the Superintendent,
Overseer, Manager, or Servant, resident on any Station, will be
subject to a penalty of a sum not less than Five nor more than
Thirty Pounds, on conviction of any offence which would render a
licensed person liable to have his or her License cancelled.

The Commissioners have also been instructed not to recommend
the renewal of the License of any person who has not kept a
sufficient number of Servants at his Station, or whose Servants have
misbehaved in any way, or at whose Stations native women have
been harboured, or where spirits in improper quantities are kept,
or who have in any way infringed the Regulations of the Govern-
ment, or where the Residents refuse to furnish the Commissioner
with such particulars as he may require for the information of the
Government in the due performance of his duties.

All persons who may be desirous of obtaining a License to
depasture are required by the 8th clause of the Act to make a report
m or before the 1st day of July next, to the Commissioner of the
District, according to the Form C hereunto annexed, of all Stock

LAND POLICY

235

kept upon the Lands occupied by him or her, with tlie names and
descriptions and particular brands of the respective ^'oprietors,
and to renew such report half-yearly in future, namely, on the 1st
January and 1st July in each year. ^

In default of such Report being furnished^ or in the event of
false statements being given therein, the party will be subject,
upon conviction in a summary way before any Justice, to a penalty
of no less than Forty Shillings nor exceeding One Hundred Pounds.
A similar return is to be made to the Commissioner immediiftely
after any person shall occupy Lands by himself or his servants,
and all changes of persons on the Establishment are to be com-
municated to him in writing, on all occasions when the Stations
shall be visited by the Commissioner.

No person in future will be allowed to take up a new Station
without having first obtained a License under these Regulations,
and the permission of the Commissioner of the District, in order
that he may previously ascertain that no encroachment will
thereby be made upon any Station previously occupied, contrary
to the established usage of the Colony, and no Station is to be
transferred from the occupation of one licensed party to another
without notice to that effect being first given to the Commissioner
of the District. . . .

By His Excellency’s Command,

E. Deas Thomson.

13. Land Regulations. 1840.

{Sydney Gazette^ 16 March 1841.)

Colonial Secretary’s Office,

Sydney, 5th December, 1840.
LAND REGULATIONS

His Excellency the Governor, with the advice of the Executive
Council, directs it to be notified, that, in pursuance of additional
instructions under the Royal Signet and Sign Manual, bearing
date the 22nd day of May, 1840, and of directions issued in conform-
ity therewith, by Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the
Colonies, on the recommendation of the Colonial Land and
Emigration Board, the present Territory of New South Wales is,
for all purposes connected with the disposal of Land, to be divided
into three Distinct Portions or Districts, under the names of the
Northern, the Middle, and the Southern Districts.

The Northern District will commence at the mouth of the River
Manning, and comprise the Lands lying to the Northward of the
Counties of Gloucester, Durham, Brisbane, and Bligh. But the
Northern boundaries of this District are not yet defined.

236 SELECT POGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

The ^liddle or Sydney District will comprise the Nineteen
Counties ^escribed in the Government Order, dated the 14th day
of October, 1829, and the Proclamations dated respectively the
22nd da-^ of jMay, and the 27th day of November, 1835, extending
on the east from thef mouth of the River Manning to the mouth of
the River Aloruya, and bounded on the north by the northern
boundaries of the Counties of Gloucester, Durham, Brisbane, and
Bligh; and on the south by the southern boundaries of the Counties
of StAuncent and Murray, to the eastern boundary of the Province
of South Australia.

The Southern or Port Phillip District will comprise all Lands
lying to the southward of the southern boundary of the Middle or
Sydney District as described above, and to the eastward of the
eastern boundary of the Province of South Australia.

Within the Northern District, the principle of selling lands at
an uniform price, as hereinafter more particularly described in
respect to Port Phillip, is to be applied as soon as the necessary
arrangements have been completed by Her Majesty’s Government,
of which due notice will be given.

Within the Middle or Sydney District no change whatever is
made by the present regulations in the disposal of land; the method
of sale by auction being continued at an upset price, that is never to
be less than twelve shillings sterling an acre.

In the Southern or Port Phillip District the following course is
to be observed, viz : —

All country lands not required for public purposes, with the
exceptions hereinafter mentioned, are to be open to purchase, after
survey, at one uniform price, which is fixed for the present at one
pound sterling an acre.

Allotments in Towns in which sales by auction have already
taken place, are to continue to be sold by auction. Melbourne,
William’s Town, Geelong, and Portland, fall within this principle.

In such other Towns as may be established hereafter. Allotments
will be open to purchase at an uniform price, which is fixed for the
present at one hundred pounds sterling per acre.

No reservation is to be made of Minerals, except in very special
cases, where mines of great value are known to exist. The Deeds of
Grant are to convey to the purchasers everything below and
everything above the surface.

Purchasers will not, of course, be allowed to pay any indefinite
number of pounds sterling, and receive a corresponding number
of acres, but must buy in lots of such size as shall, from time to time,
be established by public regulation. Measures will be taken to
keep surveys, as far as possible, in advance of the demand for land;
and Charts will be exhibited in an office at Melbourne, to be

LAND POLICY 237

appointed for that purpose, showing all appropriations and resen'es,
and the surveyed lands still open for selection.

All purchases must be made at the Land Office of the^ District
in which the lands are situated, and the money paid into the local
Treasury of that District. Purchasers, howeve!?, coming out from
the United Kingdom will be allowed to deposit money with the
Agent General for the Colonies, or such other Officer as may be
appointed for that purpose, and thereupon to receive an order from
the Land and Emigration Commissioners entitling them, ""*00
production of the same to the Local authorities, to obtain credit
for a corresponding sum, in the acquisition of Land. They will be
allowed, also, to bring out to the Colony a proportionate number
of labourers upon Bounty, under such regulations as shall be
established.

His Excellency the Governor directs it further to be notified, that
the Land open to selection in the Port Phillip District will be
proclaimed from time to time, but that in conformity with the
advice of the Executive Council, no Lands which have either been
advertised at a higher upset price than One Pound sterling an acre,
or are situated with a distance to be hereafter fixed, of the Towns
of Melbourne, William’s Town, Geelong, and Portland, will be
open to purchase under the preceding regulations, until further
directions are received from Her Majesty’s Government.

As soon as the necessary arrangements are completed for carrying
these regulations into effect, a further notification will be made
for general information.

By His Excellency’s Command,

E. Deas Thomson.

14. Land Regulations. 1841.

{Jsf.SAV. Govt. Gazette, 24 August 1841.)

Colonial Secretary’s Office,

Sydney, 21st August, 1841.

OCCUPATION OF CROWN LANDS
WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES
With reference to the Regulations of 1st August, 1831, 25th
September, 1839, and 13th February, 1840, relative to the Leasing
of Crown Lands within the Boundaries of Location, and to the 6th
clause in the Act of Council, 5 Victoria, No. 1, His Excellency
the Governor directs it to be notified, that it having been found
inconvenient to issue Annual Leases in the manner pointed out
in the said Regulations, it is proposed, in future, instead of Annual
Leases, to grant Licenses to Depasture Cattle and other Stock in
lieu thereof.

The said Regulations have accordingly been cancelled so far

238 SELECT BOCtfMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

••

as the}^ apply to the Leases in question, and the following are to be
substituteol for them: —

1st. The Land for the occupation of which Licenses may be obtain-
ed, will be advertised from time to time in the Government Gazette

2nd. Persons wisl^ng to have particular Lands advertised, may
apply, as heretofore, to the Surveyor General, for that purpose.

3rd. No Lot, consisting of less than one square mile, or 640 acres,
will be put up, except in special cases, which may render expedient
a departure from this rule: And in any case where there is a broken
section with water frontage, the section behind it will be added
to the Lot.

4th. The upset price of each Lot will be specified in the advertise-
ment; the bidding will be upon this upset price, and the Lot will
be knocked down to the highest bidder. The Government, however,
reserves to itself the right of refusing the bidding of anyone; and
before any bidding is accepted, if the yearly price of the License does
not exceed £o^ the same will be demanded at the fall of the hammer,
but if above £5^ a deposit of ten per cent, will be required at the
fall of the hammer, and the balance to be paid within one month
from the day of sale.

5th. Parties failing to pay the balance within that period, will
forfeit the deposit of ten per cent, and will of course acquire no
right to the occupancy of the Land intended to have been included
in the License.

6 th. Immediately upon payment of the full amount for the
License, the same will be issued by the Colonial Treasurer, in the
form annexed.

7th. It is to be distinctly understood, that the Lands included in
any such License, will be open to purchase under the ordinary
Regulations; and in the event of their being sold, must be surrend-
ered by the party upon his receiving one month’s notice; but in
such case, the balance of the price of the License for the time it
has to run, will be refunded to him.

8th. Parties holding Lands under License, in conformity with
these Regulations, will be entitled to the exclusive right of occu-
pancy of the same, during the period the License shall remain in
force, for the purpose of Depasturing Cattle and other Stock;
but a clause will be inserted in it, restraining the holder from cutting
Cedar or other Timber, except such of the latter as may be required
for domestic uses, for firebote, fencing stock-yards, or other conven-
iences, for the enjoyment of the Land, provided that no part thereof
be sold.

9th. In the District of Port Phillip, Licenses will be issued by the
Sub-Treasurer of the District, in the same form and manner, and
subject to the same formalities, in all respects, as Licenses in the

LAND POLICY

239

Sydney District; and persons desiring to have any particular
portions of Land advertised, may make application for l#iem to the
Senior Surveyor of the District.

By His Excellency’s Command,

E. Deas Thomson.

[Note: On 31 May 1840 the Colonial Office introduced the principle of a
fixed uniform price for Crown Land. The price was to be 1 an acre. See Russell
to Gipps, 31 May 1840, U.R.A. I, 20, pp. 641-8. This was introduced in the
colonies in March 1841. See Document No. 13 of this section. For reaction to
this in New South Wales see the report of, and evidence to, the Committee on
the Debenture Bill, V. and P, of the Legb. Conn, of N.S.W. 1841. In response to
this criticism the Secretary of State instructed the Governors to reintroduce
sale by auction. See Russell to Gipps, 21 August 1841, H.R.A. I, 21, pp. 478-80.
In 1842 the Secretary of State, Lord Stanley, passed through the British Parlia-
ment a bill which made the minimum upset price for land, and gave the
authority of the British Parliament to the principles of auction and a minimum
price. An extract from this Act is given in the next document, followed by some
examples of colonial opinion on it.]

15. Mminaiim Upset Price Raised to £1. 1842.

{Statutes at Large, Vol. XXXIV.)

An Act for regulating the Sale of Waste Land belonging to
the Crown in the Australian Colonies. 5 & 6 Viet. c.36. (22nd
June 1842.)

WHEREAS it is expedient that an uniform System of disposing
of the Waste Lands of the Crown in the Australian Colonies should
be established; be it enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual
and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled,
and by the Authority of the same, That within the Australian
Colonies the Waste Lands of the Grown shall be disposed of in the
Manner and according to the Regulations herein-after prescribed,
and not otherwise.

VIII. And be it enacted, That none of the Waste Lands of the Crown
shall be sold at any such Auction in any of the said Colonies unless
the Sum of One Pound at the least for each Acre of such Land be
then and there offered for the same, wffiich Sum of One Pound per
Acre shall be the lowest upset Price of any of the Waste Lands of the
Crown in any of the said Colonies, but which lowest upset Price
shall be liable to be from Time to Time raised in any such Colony
in manner hereinafter mentioned.

IX. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Governor of
any such Colony, at his Disci'etion, by any such Proclamation or
Proclamations as aforesaid, to raise the lowest upset Price of the
Waste Lands of the Grown in any such Colony; and it shall be
lawful for Her Majesty, by any Instructions addressed to any such

240 SELECT iJOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Governor under Her Majes^’s Signet and Sign Manual, with the
Ad wee of^der Majesty’s Privy Council either to raise the lowest
upset Prke of the Waste Lands of the Crown in any such Colony,
or to disallow and^reduce back, either wholly or in part, any
Increase of the said upset Price which, in exercise of the Authority
hereby vested in him, any such Governor may, in manner aforesaid,
have made of the said upset Price, by any such Proclamation or
Proclamations as aforesaid: Provided always, tha.t no such Instruc-
tions reducing the lowest upset Price of Land as raised by any such
Proclamation or Proclamations shall be so issued as aforesaid by
Her Majesty after the Lapse of Six Months from the Receipt by
One of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State from such
Governor of a Transcript of any such Proclamation : Provided also,
that if such upset Price be so reduced by Her Majesty as aforesaid,
and if any Person shall in the meanwhile have purchased of the
Crown any Lands not being Town or Suburban Lots or Special
Lots, it shall be lawful for the Governor either to return to such
Person the Difference between the lowest upset Price named by the
Governor and the Amount to which such lowest upset Price shall
have been reduced by Her Majesty, or to grant to such Person or
Persons Lands equal in Value to the said Difference.

X. And be it enacted. That it shall not be competent to the Governor
of any such Colony, nor, save as aforesaid, to Her Majesty, to
reduce the Amount to which, in manner aforesaid, the lowest
upset Price of Lands within such Colony may at any Time have
been so increased by such Governor or by Her Majesty.

XL And be it enacted, That in respect of any Part not exceeding
One Tenth of the whole of the Lands of the Third Glass for the
First Time offered for Sale at any such Auctions as aforesaid it shall
be lawful for any such Governor, by any such Proclamation or
Proclamations as aforesaid, to name an upset Price higher than the
lowest upset Price of Waste Lands in the Colony, and such excepted
Lands of the Third Class shall be designated as ‘‘Special Country
Lots;” and that in respect of any Lot or Lots consisting of Lands
either of the First or of the Second Classes, to be comprised in any
such Sales, it shall be lawful for the Governor for the Time being
to fix the upset Price of any such Lot or Lots at any Sum exceeding
the lowest upset Price of Waste Lands within the Colony in which
the same may be situated, and from Time to Time to raise or lower,
as to him may seem requisite for the public Interest, the Price of
such Lots consisting of Lands of the First or the Second Class, so
always that such upset Price shall never be less than the lowest
upset Price of Waste Lands within the said Colony.

XIL And be it enacted, That no Land comprised in the said First
or Second Glasses shall be sold in any of the said Colonies otherwise

LAND POLICY

241

than by public Auction; but that any Lands comprised in the Third
of the said Classes shall and may be sold by the Goveifior for the
Time being of the Colony within which the same are situate by
private Contract, if the same shall first have been put up to public
Auction in manner aforesaid, and shall not have been sold at such
Auction ; provided that no such Land shall be so sold by any such
private Contract for less than the upset Price at which the same was
last put up for Sale by Auction, or if any Bidding above that Price
was made for the same at such last preceding Auction, then ae less
than the Amount of such Bidding, after deducting the Amount of
any Deposit that may have been paid thereon : Provided also, that
if between any Two successive Sales by Auction an Increase shall
in manner aforesaid have been made of the upset Price of Lands,
no Land affected by such Increase shall subsequently be sold by
private Contract until after the same shall again have been put up
to Sale by Auction at such increased upset Price.

XII 1. And be it enacted. That no waste Lands of the Crown shall
be sold in any such Colony by any such private Contract as afore-
said except for ready Money, to be paid at the signing of such
Contract; and that no Waste Lands of the Crown shall be sold at
any such public Auction as aforesaid unless on Condition of paying
at the Time of the Sale, in ready Money, a Deposit, the Amount
of which shall be fixed by any such Proclamation or Proclamations
as aforesaid, at not less than One Tenth of the whole Price, nor
unless the Purchaser or Purchasers shall contract to pay the Residue
of such Price within One Calendar Month next after the Time of
such Sale by Auction, and shall further contract, that on Failure
of such Payment the Deposits shall be forfeited, and that the
Contract shall be thenceforward null and void.

XIX. And be it enacted. That, subject to the Charge above men-
tioned, the gross Proceeds of the Sales of the Waste Lands of the
Crown in each of the said Colonies shall be appropriated and
applied to the public Service of the said Colonies respectively, in
such Manner as Her Majesty, or the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s
Treasury, or any Three of them, shall from Time to Time direct:
Provided always, that One equal Half Part at least of such gross
Proceeds shall be and the same is hereby appropriated towards
defraying the Expence of the Removal from the United Kingdom
to the Colony wherein such Revenue accrued of Emigrants not
possessing the Means of defraying the Expence of their own Emigra-
tion thither, which Money shall be expended by the Commissioners
of Her Majesty’s Treasury, or by such Person or Persons as shall
be authorized by them to expend the same, but subject to such
Regulations regarding the Selection of Emigrants^ the Means to

242 SELECT pOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

be provided for their Conveyance, and their Superintendence
during th^ Voyage to the Colony to which they are destined, and
for their Reception and Settlement in the Colony, as shall from Time
to Time'be prescribed by Her Majesty in Her Privy Council, or
through One of Herr Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, to the
Governor of such respective Colonies, and to the Commissioners
for the Time being of Colonial Lands and Emigration.

XXII. And be it enacted, That by the Words ''Australian Colonies,”
as employed in this Act, are intended and described the Colonies
of New South Wales, Van Diemen^ s Land, South Australia and Western
Australia, and New Zealand, with their respective Dependencies,
as such Colonies are now or shall hereafter be defined and limited,
and also any other Colonies which may hereafter be established
within any of the existing Limits of the said Five Colonies, unless it
shall in any Case seem fit to Her Majesty, by any Instrument under
the Great Seal by which any such new Colony may be founded,
to postpone, either for any Period to be therein limited, or in-
definitely, as to Her Majesty shall seem meet, the Time at which
this Act shall take effect within any such new Colony, in which
Case this Act shall take effect therein from the Time to be so
limited by such Commission, and not before.

16, An Opinion on the 1842 Waste Lands Act, 1843.

(Report of Select Committee on the Act of Parliament Regulating
Sale of Crown Lands, pp. 1-4. V. and P. of the Legis. Coun. of N.S. W.
1843.)

[Note: For other opinions see the Report of the Select Committee on Crown
Land Grievances, and the evidence of J. Macarthur to the same Committee,
V. and P. of ike Legis. Coun. of N.S.W. 1844, Vol. II.]

. . . They cannot but regret that tracts as rich as any of an equal
extent in the world, should, for the present at all events, be placed
by an undue price, out of the reach of permanent occupation.
Without permanent occupation — ^without, in fact, actual property
in the soil — ^men never apply themselves to the arts of settled
industry, or study to develop the latent capabilities which a country
may possess. Your Committee therefore consider, that such a
facility for obtaining land, should be afforded to persons emigrating
to this Colony, as would induce them to settle permanently.
Pastoral pursuits must, of course, for a long time, form the principal
occupation of the Colonists, and the chief source of Colonial wealth
— therefore they should not be discouraged. They afford the best
and readiest means of dispersing civilised inhabitants over the
face of the wilderness; and there can be no question, that it would
be but wise to afford those inhabitants, such facilities in obtaining

LAND POLICY

243

possession of the soil, as would induce them to occupy ic permanently,
and to bring around them all the arts and improvements of civilised
life. With reference to squatting, as superseding, through means of
the increased price of land, the old system of settling, it has been
correctly remarked by a recent writer, that— ^^They [the squatters]
plant no breadth of land — ^form no enclosures — raise no buildings
— make no outlay of capital”. They have no fixed interest in the soiL

With reference to the waste lands of the Colony, it should not
be forgotten, that there are in Australia, whatever may hg its
general character, many millions of acres, calculated to reward the
industry, and supply the wants of man. At present that land is
unproductive — it is so much of the national wealth lying dormant.
It is to be rendered profitable, not by selling it at a high price, but
by bringing it under occupancy and cultivation. If it be sold, the
price should be proportionate to the profit derivable from it. At
present, pastoral pursuits are those alone, in the remote districts at
all events, to which the settler can direct his attention; and if
he buy land he can of course only give that price, which those
pursuits will enable him to pay. Now it appears according to the
lowest calculation, that three acres of land, are required for the
support of a single sheep. Therefore, if a settler had to buy runs for
five thousand sheep, at three acres each, at the present minimum
price, he should lay out 15,000, in land. The interest of that sum,
at 8 per cent, would subject him to a rental of 1,200, a year,
making each sheep for feeding alone, cost him 4s. lOd. per annum.
The annual net return from the animal, after the payment of
shepherd’s wages, and other expenses, would be about sixpence or
a shilling: hence it appears, that land, for sheep farming at all
events, will not pay at 20s. an acre. A newly arrived settler therefore,
wishing to invest his capital in that which is the general occupation
of the Colonists, must go far into the interior and squat beyond the
limits. This is a step which scarcely any man with a family would
like to take, and therefore, though it is sometimes adopted by those
who are actually in the Colony, it is quite enough to deter persons
of that description, from coming to this country. . . .

From all these considerations which have been borne out by the
evidence which has been given, and the experience of the Colony,
your Committee come to the conclusion, that the Act of Parliament,
under their consideration, so far as it applies to New South Wales,
cannot but be injurious in its operation— that it is calculated to
prevent immigration to these shores, to withdraw capital from the
country, and to prevent the permanent occupancy of the soil.
Your Committee see, in the great territory of Australia, an important
element of national wealth, lying, for the most part, dormant and
unemployed; but they believe if the present restrictions were

244 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

remo^^ed from the soil, that capital and population would pour
into tlie Colony — that settlers would spread over the face of the vast
interior, forming farms, settlements, and townships — each a
nucleus * around which population would gradually condense;
that the inherent capabilities of the country would be developed,
and that Australia would become — ^what she once promised to be
— the emporium of the Southern Hemisphere, and one of the most
important of the Colonial Dependencies of England.

17. Governor Gipps Presents the Case for New Regulations.
1844.

(Gipps to Stanley, 3 April 1844. H,R.A. I, 23, pp. 510-11.)

I next desire to draw your Lordship’s attention to the Social and
Kloral evils, which such a state of things, if left unameliorated,
must of necessity lead to.

We here see a British Population spread over an immense territory,
beyond the influence of civilization, and almost beyond the restraints
of Law. Within this wide extent, a Minister of Religion is very
rarely to be found. There is not a place of Worship, nor even a
School. So utter indeed is the destitution of all means of instruction,
that it may perhaps be considered fortunate that the population
has hitherto been one almost exclusively male. But Women are
beginning to follow into the Bush ; and a race of Englishmen must
speedily be springing up in a state approaching to that of untutored
barbarism.

The occupiers of this vast wilderness, not having a property of
any sort in the soil they occupy, have no inducement to make
permanent improvements on it. Some Land indeed has been
brought into cultivation, in order to diminish the very heavy
expense of obtaining supplies from the settled parts of the Colony;
and here and there a Building has been erected, which may deserve
the name of a Cottage; but the Squatters in general live in Huts
made of the Bark of Trees; and a Garden, at least anything worthy
of tlie name, is a mark of civilization rarely to be seen.

On the other hand, it is well worthy of remark that there are,
amongst the Squatters and living the life which I have described,
great numbers of young men every way entitled to be called
gentlemen, young men of Education, and many of good family and
connexions in Europe. The presence of young men of this description
beyond the Boundaries has been highly advantageous; first in
lessening the rudeness of Society in what is called the “Bush”, and
secondly, as affording the materials for a local Magistracy. On a
former occasion, I remarked how unjust it would be to confound

LAND POLICY

245

the Squatters of Australia with those who bear the same name in
America (Memorandum on Land selling, which accmupanied my
Despatch, No. 192 of the 19th December, 1840).

As good too is ever springing out of evil, I may remark that the
disasters, which have recently overtaken great numbers of our
Settlers, have had the effect of driving many estimable persons
into the Bush with their Wives and families where their influence
can hardly fail to be advantageously felt.

Independent, therefore, of any considerations of Revenue, the
time seems to me to be arrived, when some alteration is required
in the Administration of the Lands of the Crown beyond the
Boundaries of Location, in order to relieve the Government from
the reproach, not simply of permitting the continuance of such a
state of things, but actually of prohibiting amendment; and, to
do this, not only should a portion of the Lands now occupied by
License be opened to Location in the usual way, but facilities should
also be afforded to Squatters in general of securing to themselves
permanent interest in some parts of the Lands they occupy.

18. The Recommendations of Governor Gipps for Land
Regulations Within the Limits of Location. 1844.

(App. to Report of Select Committee on Crown Land Grievances
V, andP, of the Legis. Com. ofJY.S.W. 1844, VoL II.)

Recommendations transmitted by His Excellency the Governor,
with his Despatches, on the above subject, dated 3rd April, 1844,
per ship ‘‘General Hewitt”, as published in the “Sydney Morning
Herald”, of 13th May, 1844: —

1 . — Every squatter, after an occupation of five years, shall have an
opportunity afforded to him of purchasing a portion of his run,
not less than three hundred and twenty acres, for a homestead.

2. — ^The value of any permanent and useful improvements which
he may have made on the land, shall be allowed to him; but the
land itself, (exclusive of improvements) cannot be sold for less than
the established minimum price of one pound per acre.

3. — Any person who may have purchased a homestead shall not
be disturbed in the possession of his run during the following
eight years. He must, however, continue to take out for the un-
purchased parts of it, the usual license, and pay on it the usual fee
of ten pounds per annum.

4. — ^A second purchase of not less than three hundred and twenty
acres shall be attended with the similar advantage of being
undisturbed for the next eight years; so that each successive purchase
of three hundred and twenty acres will act virtually as a renewal
of an eight years’ lease.

246 SELECT DQCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

5. The right of the crown must, however, remain absolute, as it

at present ij, over all lands which have not been sold or granted,
it being well understood, that the crown will not act capriciously,
or unequally, and will not depart from established practice, except
for the attainment of «ome public benefit.

5 ^ — Persons who may not avail themselves within a certain period,
to be hereafter fixed, of the advantage offered to them of purchasing
a homestead, will be exposed to the danger of having any part of
their tun offered for sale, either at the pleasure of the crown, or on
the demand of an individual. The value of any useful and permanent
improvements which they may have made on their lands, will be
secured to them, should a stranger become the purchaser.

7. — ^The person, whoever he may be, who purchases the homestead,
is to have the remainder of the run.

8. — ^All sales to be as at present by auction — the appraised value
of permanent and useful improvements, (which will be considered
as the property of the former occupant), being added to the upset
price of the land.

9. — ^As stated in the notice of 2nd April, a license is not to cover more
than twelve thousand eight hundred acres of land, unless it be
certified by the Commissioner that the twelve thousand eight
hundred acres are not sufficient to keep in ordinary seasons four
thousand sheep; no existing run is, however, to be reduced below
twelve thousand eight hundred, on account of its capability of
feeding more than four thousand sheep. But, if any licensed person
have on his run more than four thousand sheep, he is to pay one
pound for every one thousand above four thousand. A person
therefore, having on a run of twenty square miles, five thousand
sheep will not, as has been supposed, be required to take out two
licenses, but will be charged an extra one pound for his license,
or eleven pounds instead of ten pounds. If he have eight thousand
sheep, he will be charged four pounds extra, or fourteen pounds in
all. This is not stated in the notice of the 2nd April, but it forms a
part of the proposals which were sent home, as before referred to.

19. The Regulatioiis for Leases Beyond the Boundaries of
Location. 1844.

(App. to Report of Select Committee on Crown Land Grievances.
K and P. of the Legis. Com, of N.S,W, 1844, Vol. II.)

Depasturing Licenses

Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Sydney, 2nd April, 1844.

(1.) With reference to the regulations of the 21st May, 1839, and
14th September, 1840, relative to the occupation of the Crown

LAND POLICY

247

Lands beyond the boundaries of location, His Excellency the
Governor, in consequence of the practice which has grown up of
parties occupying several distinct Stations under one License, has
been pleased, with the advice of the Executive Council, to direct
that parties occupying Stations in separate districts, notwith-
standing that the same may be contiguous, shall be required in
future to take out a separate License for each such district, and to
pay the established fee of Ten Pounds for the same; and that no
person shall in future be allowed to take up a new Station, either
in the same district in which his stock may be depastured, or in
any other, without having first obtained a separate License for the
same, under the recommendation of the Commissioner, and paid
the fee of Ten Pounds thereon.

(2.) His Excellency, with the advice of the Executive Council,
has further directed, that from and after the first day of July, 1845,
a separate License must be taken out, and the fee of Ten Pounds
paid thereon, for each separate Station or Run occupied, even
though situated in the same district.

(3.) No one Station, within the meaning of these regulations, is,
after the first July, 1845, to consist of more than twenty square
miles of area, unless it be certified by the Commissioner that more
is required for the quantity of sheep or cattle mentioned in the
next paragraph.

(4.) If the party desire to occupy more, and the Commissioner
consider him entitled to such occupation, with reference to the
quantity of Stock possessed by him, or its probable increase in the
ensuing three years, as well as the accommodation required by other
parties, and the general interests of the public, an additional license
must be taken out and paid for.

(5.) Every Station at a greater distance than seven miles from any
other occupied by the same party, will be deemed a separate
Station within the meaning of these Regulations, even though the
area occupied may not altogether exceed twenty square miles; and
no one License will cover a Station capable of depasturing more
than 4000 sheep or 500 head of cattle, or a mixed herd of sheep
and cattle, equal to either 500 head of cattle or 4000 sheep.

(6.) No Station, or part of a Station, previously occupied under a
separate License, will be incorporated with, or added to, the Station
of any Licensed person, unless he pay for it the price of another
License.

(7.) In other respects, the Regulations referred to will remain in
force.

By His Excellency’s Command,

E. Deas Thomson.

248 SELECT D-OCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

20. Resoltitions of the Squatters and Others on the Regula-
tions of 1844.

(App. to Report of Select Committee on Crown Land Grievances.
V, and P. of the Legis. Com, of 1844, Vol. IL)

RESOLUTIONS PASSED
at the various

PUBLIC .MEETINGS HELD THROUGHOUT THE COLONY
in reference to the

DEPASTURING REGULATIONS
of 2nd April, 1844

MEETING AT SYDNEY

At a general meeting of stockholders, and others interested in
the prosperity of the Colony, held at the Royal Hotel, pursuant
to requisition, on Tuesday, 9th April, 1844, Dr. Bland, M.C. in
the chair, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted.

Moved by W. C. Wentworth, Esq., M.C.; seconded by Robert
Gore, Esq. —

That this meeting regards with feelings of the deepest alarm the
regulations respecting the occupation of crown lands under squatting
licenses, published in the Government Gazette, of 2nd April, 1844;
such regulations being, in the opinion of this meeting, uncon-
stitutional in their application and character, oppressive in their
influence, and calculated to add materially to the existing distress
of the Colony. That the right claimed by the Executive of imposing
arbitrary and unlimited impo[s]ts for the occupation of crown lands
affects the vital interests of the whole colonial community, and
renders the right of imposing taxes by the representatives of the
people almost nugatory. That these regulations, if persevered in,
must not only be ruinous in their immediate operation, but are
calculated to strike a blow at the future prosperity of the Colony,
rendering the tenure of all squatting licenses precarious, subject
to the uncontrolled decision of the Executive Government, and
preventing any accession to the population or wealth of the Colony
by the influx of capital or labor. —

Carried unanimously.

Moved by Benjamin Boyd, Esq.; seconded by John Blaxland,
Esq., M.C. : —

That the system of granting licenses for so limited a period as
twelve months is highly objectionable; that, in addition to the
evil arising from the shortness of such a term, its injurious conse-
quences are aggravated by the right of occupancy being uncertain,
and rendered liable to change at the will or caprice of the Executive

LAND POLICY

249

Government, either by alteration in the regulation of the stations,
or by increase in the charge for occupation. That conseguently, this
uncertainty of right of occupancy of crown lands has a ruinous
tendency upon the most valuable property in the Colony, has a
very demoralising effect on the entire cctamunity, and must
continue so, until a fixity of tenure is granted to the occupier. —
Carried unanimously.

Moved by F. Kemble, Esq.; seconded by Thomas Walker, Esq.,
M.C.:—

That the commercial and trading classes of the community
are most intimately connected with, and dependent upon, the
prosperity of the great pastoral interests of the Colony, and that
the members of those classes most cordially support the objects
of this meeting. — Carried unanimously.

Moved by Dr. Nicholson, Esq., M.C.; seconded by George
McLeay, Esq.: —

That the foregoing resolutions be embodied in a petition to
Her Majesty the Queen, both Houses of Parliament, His Excellency
the Governor, and the Legislative Council, with a prayer that the
latter body may take such steps as they consider meet, in promoting
its object. — Carried unanimously.

Proposed by M.C. O’ Connell, Esq.; seconded by Dr.Dobie, J.P.

That in order to secure a due protection to the pastoral interests
of this Colony, an association be formed, to be designated ‘‘The
Pastoral Association of New South Wales;” and that the members
of this association do agree to be annual subscribers of one pound
sterling, for defraying its expenses. — Carried unanimously.

Moved by J. Phelps Robinson, Esq., M.C.; seconded by Robert
Graham, Esq.: —

That a committee, consisting of the following gentlemen, be
appointed, with power to add to their number, to carry into effect
the objects of this meeting, viz. : —

W. C. Wentworth, Esq., M.G.; Dr. Bland, M.C.; B. Boyd, Esq.;
C. Cowper, Esq., M.C.; Dr. Nicholson, M.C.; Thomas Walker,
Esq., M.G.; J. P. Robinson, Esq., M.G.; Dr. Dobie, J.P. ; F. Taaffe,
Esq.; R. Graham, Esq.; O. Bloxsome, Esq.; William Foster, Esq.,
M.C.; M. C. O’Connell, Esq.; John Blaxland, Esq., M.C.; W.
Dumaresq, Esq., M.C.; George M’Leay, Esq.; Robert Gore, Esq.

Moved by William Foster, Esq., M.G.; seconded by William
Lawson, Esq., M.C. : —

That copies of the above resolutions be transmitted to the several
districts of the Colony, inviting co-operation in carrying out the
various objects of this meeting.

[Note: 1. Similar resolutions were passed at meetings at Scone, Goulburn,

250 SELECT DPCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Penrith, Mudgee, Camden, Singleton, Australia Felix (Melbourne). See pp.
2-6 of tliese Resolutions.

2. See also JRepiies to the Circular Letter addressed to Gentlemen who could
not give evidence to the Committee, Report of Select Committee on Crown
Land Grievances, p. 38 et seq.

3. See also the Sydney Morning Herald of 10 April 1844 for a detailed report
of speeches by \V. C. Wentworth and others protesting against the regulations.]

21. Gipps Replies to the Squatters. 1844.

(GipRs to Stanley, 16 April 1844. H.R.A. I, 23, pp. 545-8.)

It will scarcely escape Your Lordship’s observation that neither
in the Resolutions, nor in the Speeches of the gentlemen who
moved and seconded them, is an allusion once made to the first and
most important object of the Notice. These gentlemen, though they
declaimed loudly against what they called the despotism of the
measure, never once hazarded the proposition that it was unjust
or despotic to make persons pay for the use of Crown Lands, in
proportion to the advantages they derived from them; nor were
they even bold enough to assert that ;;{)10 per annum for the use of
12,800 acres of Land, or for the depasturing of 4,000 Sheep, is an
excessive charge.

The mover of the first Resolution purposely confounded the
taking of a price for a License (which is in fact a payment in the
nature of agistment) with the imposition of a tax; and maintained,
in opposition to all Constitutional Law and the positive enactment
of Parliament, that the power to dispose of the Lands of the Crown
resides as a matter of right in the Local Legislature. The Mover of
the second Resolution declared that, so long as he continued to pay
the price for his License, 10 per annum, he had a freehold in
the Lands he occupied, and that from it the Government could
not eject him.

I now proceed to offer to Your Lordship some few observations
on the matter at issue.

According to the Returns of the Commissioners of Crown Lands,
I find that, of the gentlemen who called the meeting, the three
largest occupiers of Crown Lands hold collectively ,305,920 acres,
the three smallest occupiers 13,440 ; consequently, the large occupiers
hold two and twenty times as much land for the same money as
the small ones. The small occupiers get only 22 acres for one shilling
per annum, the large occupiers get 510 acres for a shilling; and,
though they may require for their own use only a small portion of
what they hold, they prevent the occupation of any portion of
it by others. Various ways of sub-letting are also growing into use,
in addition to the common practice of what is called “taking in
Sheep and Cattle on thirds”, the meaning of which is that the
person, to whom the Cattle or Sheep belong, shall give the holder

LAND POLICY

251

of the Run one third of their entire produce, including Calves,
Lambs, and Wool. The right to the occupation of a Station has also
become an article of common sale; and sums varying #om 100 to
^500 are commonly given for them; I have heard indeed* of 1,000
being demanded; and Stations may be said have lately become
articles of common traffic in the markets.

From the same Returns of the Grown Commissioners, I find that,
reckoning one Horse, Ox or Cow to be equal to eight Sheep, the
quantity of Stock depastured by the three largest of the Squatteis,
who called the meeting, was equal to 78,360 Sheep, and the quantity
of Stock depastured by the three smallest Holders was equal to
14,168; the small holders of Stock, therefore, pay very nearly one
shilling per annum for twenty two Sheep depastured by them on
Crown Lands; whilst the large occupiers pay the same sum of Is.
per annum for depasturing one hundred and thirty one Sheep in
each case exclusive of unweaned Lambs.

These calculations are made from the returns of land and stock
held by the Requisitionists only; were they taken from the whole
body of Squatters, far greater inequalities would be exposed. In
papers now before me respecting a disputed Run in the District
called ‘‘New England”, it is stated by most respectable parties
(one of them a Member of the Legislative Council) that a single
squatter (Mr. Hall) holds one thousand square miles of Land, or
640,000 acres; and by the Commissioners’ Returns, I find that he
holds in one District (New England), and under a single License,
Runs which are ’estimated by the Commissioner at 820 square
miles, or 524,800 acres. He has also another Station in the District
of Liverpool Plains, but for it he pays a separate License.

It is alleged by the Squatters that they cannot as a body pay more
than they now do; but, even if this be admitted, it will not thence
follow that they should pay as unequally as they now do.

The only part of the notice of the 2d inst., which is to have any
immediate effect, is that which relates to persons who occupy
two stations in contiguous Districts under a single License; and no
individual has, I believe, been hardy enough to deny that it is
right and proper that persons, who occupy two Stations in separate
Districts, should take out separate Licenses, even though the
Districts be contiguous. The other parts of the Notice will have no
effect until the month of July, 1845; and I postponed the operation
of them as well in consideration of the depressed state of the Colony,
as to allow time for Your Lordship’s approval of the measures to
arrive in the Colony, before they are carried into effect.

If the sum of be deemed too much for the price of a License,
and it can be shewn that the profits of Sheep farming will not admit
of so liigh a charge, I shall, on a fair shewing that such is the case,

252 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

not object to the reduction of it; but I do not at present think the
charge too l^igh for a solvent person to pay, though I do not doubt
that a person, encumbered with debts, and paying 10 or 12 per
cent, per annum for borrowed money, may find ^10 more than
he can afford; and so^ven would he, if it were reduced to 10s.

I do not admit the proposition, advanced at the Meeting, that
the fee on the License is only an acknowledgment that the Land is
held from the Grown, and that therefore it only ought to be of a
nomisal amount, and the same for all. I consider the price of a
license to be analogous to Rent, and that it ought to be proportional
to the profits made from unimproved lands, the property of
individuals.

Estimating the value of a Fleece in the Sydney Market at the low
price of 2s, 6d., the value of the Wool alone from 4,000 Sheep would
be ;{^500 per annum; and the charge of ;£‘10 for a License would be
2 per cent upon the Wool alone, without reckoning anything for
the value of the Carcass or the increase.

As the Government has almost entirely ceased to sell Land, the
necessity is so much the stronger for raising a revenue from the lands
which are unsold. If this be not done, it seems to me that Immigra-
tion into the Colony must altogether be given up ; and there cannot
be a real Friend to Australia, who would desire that such should
be the case. Who, it may be asked, in Australia will be foolish enough
to buy Land at ;^1 or even 5s. per acre, if, according to the dictum
of the Mover of the Second Resolution, the Freehold of an extensive
domain is to be procured for a year.

The most obvious interests of the Colony require that a Fund
should be annually raised for the support of Immigration; and I
feel satisfied that a clear sum of £50,000 per annum may be obtained
for this purpose, provided only proper protection be afforded to
the unsold Lands of the Grown,

E. THE ORDER IN COUNCIL, 1847

[Note: Section VI of the Sale of Waste Land Act, 9 & 10 Viet. c. 4, em-
powered the Queen in Council to make rules and regulations respecting the
occupation of waste lands. The Order in Council was an attempt to meet the
main criticism against official land policy since 1831 — that it did not provide
security of tenure for the squatter. See the dispatch of Grey to Fitzroy, 30 March
1847 in V. and P, of the Legis. Com. of N.S.W. 1847, Vol. I.]

22. The Text of the Order in Council. 1847,

Govt Gazette, 1 October 1847.)

[Note: For the interpretation of the Order in Council see S. H. Roberts:
History of Australian Land Settlement, Ch. 17, and especially the references given
in note 21 on p. 209 and the references in note 24 on p. 210. The problem of
interpretation lies outside the period covered by this volume.]

253

LAND POLICY

CHAPTER I

AS TO THE DIVISION OF THE LANDS IN
NEW SOUTH WALES

SECT. 1. — The lands in the Colony of Ne%v South Wales shall,
for the purposes of the present Order, be considered as divided
into three classes and be dealt with accordingly, as they may be
situated in Districts to be denominated respectively as the settled,
the intermediate, and the unsettled districts.

SECT. 2- — ^The settled districts of the Colony shall

comprehend : —

First — The nineteen contiguous counties, the boundaries of
which were settled and proclaimed before the 1st January, 1838.

Second — The counties or reputed counties of IMacquarie and
Stanley.

Third — The lands which may be within a distance of twenty-
five miles, to be measured or reckoned from any point of the
corporate limits of the town of Melbourne in the county of Bourke.

Fourth — The lands which may be within the distance of fifteen
miles from any point of the outward limits of the town of Geelong,
in the county of Grant.

Fifth — The land which may lie within the distance of ten miles
from any point of the outward limits of each of the following towns
or townships, viz : —

Portland, in the county of Normanby. Alberton, iix the district
of Gipps Land. Eden, in the county of Auckland. Bathurst, in the
county of Roxburgh. Wellington, in the county of the same name.

The town which has been established at the head of the navi-
gation of the River Clarence.

The town of Macquarie in the county of Macquarie.

The town of Ipswich in the county of Stanley.

Sixth — The lands which may lie within the distance of three
miles from any part of the sea, throughout the extent of the Colony,
measured in a straight line.

Seventh— The lands which may lie within the distance of two
miles from either of the two opposite banks of any of the following
rivers, viz: —

The Glenelg from a point to be fixed by the Governor, not lower
than where the Glenelg receives the waters of the Crawford, nor
higher than where it receives the waters of the Wannon.

The Clarence from a point to be fixed by the Governor, at a
distance not less than ten miles above the Government township,
at the head of the navigation, and not less than fifty miles from the
sea (measured in a straight line).

The river now known by the name of the Richmond, from a

254 SELECT D£)CUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

point to be fixed by the Governor, at a distance not less than
twenty mil^ from the sea, measured along the course of the river.

SECT. ^3. — As to the ntermediate districts.

The intermediate districts shall comprehend the lands lying
within the counties ^or reputed counties of Bourke, Grant, and
Normanby, in the district of Port Phillip, which are not herein-
before directed to be included in the settled lands; also all the lands
in the county or reputed county of Auckland, which are not
inclulled in the settled lands as hereinbefore mentioned; also the
entire district of Gipps Land, except the parts included in the
settled lands as hereinbefore mentioned; also the counties, either
already formed or intended to be formed, between the county of
Auckland and the county of St. Vincent; also any county or counties
of which the boundaries may be fixed and proclaimed on or before
the 31st December, 1848.

SECT. 4. — ^As to the unsettled districts.

The unsettled districts shall comprehend all the lands of New
South Wales, excepting such lands as are now, or hereafter lawfully
may be, comprehended within the limits of the settled and inter-
mediate lands within the said Colony.

CHAPTER II

RULES TO BE ENFORCED WITHIN THE UNSETTLED
DISTRICTS

SECT. 1 . — It shall be lawful for the Governor for the time being
of the said Colony, or the officer for the time being administering
the Government of the Colony, and he is hereby empowered to
grant leases of runs of land within the unsettled districts, to such
person or persons as he shall think fit, for any term or terms of
years, not exceeding fourteen years in duration, for pastoral purposes,
with permission, nevertheless, for the lessee to cultivate so much
of the lands respectively comprised in the said runs as may be
necessary to provide such grain, hay, vegetables, or fruit for the
use and supply of the family and establishment of such lessee, but
not for the purposes of sale or barter; and so, nevertheless, that
such leases shall in no case prejudice, interrupt, or interfere with
the right of the Governor or other officer for the time being admin-
istering the Government of the said Colony to enter upon any of
the lands comprised in the said leases for any purpose of public
defence, safety, improvement, convenience, utility, or enjoyment,
agreeably to the provisions for those purposes contained in the 9th
section of the second chapter of this Order in Council, or otherwise.

SECT. 2. — The rent to be paid for each several run of land shall
be proportioned to the number of sheep or equivalent number of
cattle which the run shall be estimated as capable of carrying,

LAND POLICY

255

according to a scale to be established for the purpose, bv authority
of the Governor. Each run shall be capable of carryino-^ at least,
four thousand sheep, or equivalent number of cattle,' according to
the scale aforesaid, and not in any case be let at a lower rent than
ten pounds per annum, to which two pounds teA shillings per annum
shall be added for every additional thousand sheep, or equivalent
number of cattle which the run shall be estimated as capable of
carrying.

SECT. 3. — In order to estimate the number of sheep or cattle
which each run will carry, before the granting of the said lease as
hereinbefore mentioned, the intended lessee or occupier shall name
a valuer, and the Commissioner of Crown Lands shall either act
as valuer, or name one to act for him; and these two valuers shall
have power to choose, if necessary, an umpire; but if they cannot
agree in the choice of an umpire, he shall be appointed by the
Governor, or the officer for the time being administering the
Government of the said Colony.

SECT. 4. — The rents to be paid according to the scale above
mentioned, are to be reserved exclusively of any existing assess-
ments of taxes or rates on sheep and cattle, and are to be paid
without abatement on account of the existing or any future assess-
ments of taxes or rates on sheep and cattle, and in no way to
interfere with the right of the Colonial Legislature to impose from
time to time such assessments as may be deemed advisable.

SECT. 6. — During the continuance of any lease of lands occupied
as a run, the same shall not be open to purchase by any other
person or persons except the lessee thereof. But it shall be lawful for
the Governor or the officer for the time being administering the
Government of the said Colony, to sell to such lessee any of the
lands comprised in the lease granted to such lessee, provided that
the quantity of the lands sold to such lessee shall not be less than
one hundred and sixty acres, and that the price to be paid for the
same shall not be below the general minimum price of one pound
for each acre : Provided also, that if the portion or lot of any such
run sold to such lessee be less in extent than three hundred and
twenty acres, the expenses of the survey of the portion so sold shall
be paid by the purchaser,

CHAPTER III

RULES APPLICABLE TO INTERMEDIATE LANDS

SECT. 1. — Within lands coming under the description of inter-
mediate lands the interest in runs shall be acquired, held, and
determined upon the same terms and conditions as above laid

256 SELECT DOCUMENTS XN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

down for unsettled lands, excepting that the leases shall not be made
for more t^an eight years in duration, and that at the end of each
successive year from the date of the lease, it shall be competent for
the Governor or Officer for the time being administering the
Government of thd' said Colony, provided he shall have given
sixty days previous notice, to offer for sale all or any part of the
lands within any such run, subject to the same conditions in favor
of the lessee as are above laid down in case of a sale at the expiration
of the full term of a lease of unsettled lands.

CHAPTER IV

RULES APPLia\BLE TO SETTLED LANDS

SECT. i. — Within the boundaries of the settled lands, it shall
be competent for the Governor or Officer for the time being admin-
istering the Government of the said Colony, to grant leases of lands
exclusively for pastoral purposes, for terms not exceeding one year;
and it shall further be competent for the Governor or Officer for
the time being administering the Government of the said Colony,
if he deem it expedient, to make general rules, under which the
holders of purchased lands within such districts of settled lands
may be permitted to depasture, free of charge, any adjacent
Crown Lands: Provided that the depasturage of such unsettled
lands free of charge shall in no way interfere with the right of the
Government at any time to dispose of the same, either by sale or by
lease for one year as above mentioned.

And the Right Honorable Earl Grey, one of Her Majesty’s
Principal Secretaries of State, shall give the necessary directions
haem .ccordingly, ^ BATHURST.

23. An Opinion on the Order in Council. 1847.

(Ev. of F. Macarthur to Select Committee on Minimum Upset
Price of Land, p. 4. V. and P. of the Legis. Com. of K.S.W. 1847,
Vol. II.)

In the first place the practical eflfect of these Orders will be to
give the lands over to the persons who now hold them. The evil
would be less great if the fee-simple of the land were given to the
present holders, as then there would be some chance of the land
getting into other hands; but now these lands cannot be transferred
— cannot change hands — can never be improved; for the effect
of these Orders is to say, that the land shall not be improved, as the
parties occupying are only allowed to cultivate for their own
sustenance; they must not barter or sell the produce of the lands,
therefore they must be sheep walks for the next fourteen years
certain, and if these Orders are maintained they must be for ever.

LAND POLICY

257

24 . The EjBFect of the Land Laws. 1831-50 c.

(A. Harris: Settlers and Convicts^ pp. 403-6.)

First, the Land Regulations. — ^That these are the most .,excellent
things in theory that statesmanship ever imagined, I am not
prepared to dispute. That they suit pretty well the highest class,
those who legislate in the colony, those from whom the legislators
of the colony are drawn, those from whom emanate the represent-
ations which by one means and another are rendered so influential
in the Imperial legislature, may also be true. But they suit noBody
else. Their effect is principally two-fold. They entirely prevent
persons of small property from becoming landholders and agri-
culturists; by which again they coercively construct an immensely
larger labouring class than otherwise would exist in the colony.
Consequently the rich landholder both keeps the produce market
to himself; and again procures labourers at a vastly lower rate of
wages. He diminishes the competition with himself in the produce
market, and just so much increases the competition among the
labourers in the labour market. The minor consequences are these :
— a very bitter and continually deepening feeling of disaffection to
the British Government and its Australian employes in the minds
of the colonial youth. There is a settled sense among them that they
are debarred of their rights. I was told some time ago of this remark-
able fact, — that there were not half a dozen of the Australian youth
in the British army; and I am persuaded that unless this feeling be
looked after and allayed, it will eventually result in the separation
of the colony from British jurisdiction: for, when it comes to the
point to save their possessions, the rich will go with the poor. At
present, and nothing can be more certain, the whole rising and
mature race of Australians of the middle and lower class look on
our dominion as an usurpation, and as one of the most selfish
character. They say, and truly enough, — Great Britain sends out
two classes here : one of these, as being rich, originally obtained vast
grants of land for nothing, and is still allowed to buy on terms to
which it can conform; the other, as being poor, is not even allowed
to buy, because the very condition of purchase is that the purchaser
be rich. The rich have delivered their right with their riches to
their offspring, — ^he who has already too much can get more. The
poor, with their poverty, have delivered to their children a list
of rights deficient in the grandest particular, the right to hold land ;
thus, right to land is the birthright of a certain class, whilst to all
others it is denied. Another effect of this large farm system is this,
— Australia is liable to periodical famines; the rich find labour so
scarce and stock-holding so profitable that they naturally throw ail
their force of labour into the latter, and have none comparatively
left for agriculture; on the contrary, the poor man, having no stock

258 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

or but little, would naturally betake himself to the agricultural
use of the soil; but the land being put up for sale only in such large
tracts he cannot buy. Thus the very class whose labour would
naturally direct itself against that periodical scourge of Australia,
famine, is denied tke means of doing so, and a w^hole population
every three or five or seven years is subjected to this sore penalty
for the undue advancement of a class, and that the smallest. The hoe
crops in Australia very commonly succeed when the plough crops
fail r the rich settler works his land with the plough, the poor with
the hoe: a still further token of the intrinsic error of the present
arrangement. Finally, the monetary condition of the country and
the moral condition of the labouring class are most injuriously
affected by the present system. Hundreds of thousands of pounds
have been spent by the labouring population in the public-house
which would have been spent in the purchase of little farms if such
were purchasable. The Australian labourer is naturally improvident.
He cannot keep money by him till he has several hundreds of
pounds ; and unless he can purchase his ten or twelve acres of land
when he receives his wages, he will never possess it at all. And this
the great people well know.

I feel confident that if small farms of 20, 50, 100 acres could be purchased^
a new and most useful class would he immediately constructed^ which would
gradually and speedily increase; all the British exports which a family
needs would he thus brought into increasing demand; money, which would
otherwise be assuredly spent in public-houses, would be turned into a useful
channel; and the strong feeling of political disaffection which is establishing
itself in the native-born population, which will soon infinitely out-number
all the rest, would be met on the very ground it grows on, and be checked,

25, A Committee of the Legislative Council Sums Up. 1847.

(Report of Select Committee on Minimum Upset Price of Land.
F. andP, of the Legis, Coun, of N,S.W, 1847, Vol. II.)

It appears from the testimony of all the witnesses examined
— ^whether favourable or unfavourable to the maintenance of a high
minimum price — and even from the Despatches of Sir George
Gipps himself, that the sum of £l does not in any degree, represent
the exchangeable value of an acre of land in New South Wales.
The declaration of Parliament, therefore, that land shall not be sold
till it realize £1 an acre, is a declaration that land shall not be sold
till it will realize more than it is worth ; in other words, that except
under very particular circumstances, land shall not be sold at all.
That such has been the practical effect of the measure will be
evident from the following table of the sums realized from the sale
of land since the year 1837.

GROWN LANDS SOLD AT

-S

m Lo

. CM

Ph cm

CJl

^ £

-s^

. CM

O t-h
00

CO m
CO o

PH CO O W
^ O CM CO

• o?

CO CO
CD »•
00 00
CD CO
CO
CM

0:i

CO •

CM j

t— 1

1— <

T-l

Y--<

r-v

!>.

• Y— 1

1 CD

Y-jCJ

Y-H

r-l

D".

O'.

»o

T— (

Y-^

Y—t

ID*

CO j

■Yiji

y-Y

T}t

»— (

Y-H

.—1

Y-Y

r-H

Y— (

!>.

'<3

«-(

•— (

260 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

It is also the interest of Government to attract capital. In this
also it has ^signally overreached itself. The principle of a uniform
fixed price" contains in it this objection, that that price must be
tolerably liigh since upon it alone the Government relies to protect
its interests, but it l^^s the countervailing advantages of certainty
of amount and facility of operation. The principle of sale by auction
has not these advantages, but it offers to the capitalist the attraction
of referring not to any arbitrary standard, but to fair competition
to the value. The Government has rejected all that is attractive
in each of these systems, and retained only what is repulsive. Enough
of the fixed price is retained to make the purchaser sure that he will
not get the land cheap; enough of the principle of competition to
make him uncertain whether he shall get it at all.

The facilities of steam and railw^ay communication are gradually
drawing mankind together, and countries possessing wild lands for
sale, are beginning to enter into competition with each other.
It is becoming daily more impossible to regard this as an isolated
question. In determining the price of land, the competition of other
countries ought not to be left out of sight. At the Cape of Good
Hope, land can be obtained for one-tenth, in Canada for one-fourth,
and, as it appears recently, in the United States, for one-fortieth
of the sum demanded for a like quantity here. In utter defiance of
the principles of political economy, it is expected that persons will
give for our poor and inaccessible land four, five, ten, or forty times
the price at which nearer and more accessible land may be obtained.
It is assumed that one acre of land in Australia equals in value
four in Canada, five in the United States, ten at the Gape of Good
Hope, and forty in the territory recently ceded to the United States
by the Chacktaw Indians. Your Committee apprehend, that as
regards the greater part of the lands of this Colony, it is perfectly
immaterial whether the minimum price fixed be j^l or ^^20 an acre.
The former price is shown, by reason and experience, to be utterly
unattainable, and the latter is no more.

Your Committee would wish to be understood as by no means
undervaluing the great advantages derived by the Colony from
pastoral pursuits, but they are desirous of expressing their opinion
that the Home Government, by prohibiting the sale of land, has
given an undue stimulus to those pursuits, and undue discourage-
ment to agriculture and settled industry. The prohibition of the
purchase of land has aggravated that tendency to dispersion which
it was designed to counteract. The true policy, in the opinion of
your Conamittee, is neither to stimulate nor check this tendency
to dispersion which is the natural precursor of that state of society
in which the tendency to concentration arises. Unhappily the

LAND POLICY

261

Government has not observed this rule. In its anxiety to concentrate
the populationj it has placed a price on land which |:cndered it
impossible for those who occupied it, to occupy as purchasers.
The occupation has been conceded, the proprietorship has been
withheld, and thus has the industry of the Colony been forced into
the channel most consistent with occupation without title, and the
policy which ambitiously aimed at forcing the Colonists prematurely
be become villagers and agriculturists, has resulted in compelling
them to become shepherds and herdsmen. Had the prohibitory
price thus imposed been the result of a sincere though mistaken
conviction, your Committee, while deprecating its impolicy, could
not have murmured at its injustice. But it is now notorious in the
Colony, and can be proved by unquestionable evidence, that it
was not with a view to the welfare of New South Wales, but of
South Australia, that this obnoxious law was passed. Colonel
Torrens and his brother Commissioners, the founders of the South
Australian Colony, felt that it w^ould be impossible to obtain an
acre for land there, while land of the same quality could be obtained
at 5s. an acre here. They felt that whatever were the merits of their
scheme, it would not bear the test of the free trade principle of
competition, and they sacrificed, without remorse or hesitation,
the present and actual interests of the older Colony, to the future
and, as it has turned out, visionary pi'ospects of the younger. Thus
it happens that 200,000 persons are impoverished, that their
interests may not stand in the way of the imaginary interests of
25,000; and while Colony after Colony has been emancipated from
the 5(^1 an acre system, New South Wales has been unable to obtain
her deliverance, precisely because, to her, that deliverance would
be most valuable. Van Diemen’s Land is of too small extent — New
Zealand is too distant — to impair, by their competition, the working
of the 5(^1 an acre system in South Australia. If the land of New
South Wales were rich, the continuance of the price would be a
matter of indifference; if the land were small in quantity, the
reduction of the price would be unimportant; it is the great quantity
and poor quality of the land — the very causes which render the
high price ruinous to New South Wales, — that constitute its principal
attractions in the eyes of the South Australian Commissioners.

But happy would it have been for the Colony if the ruin of her
Land Fund, the dispersion of her people, the^ stoppage of Immi-
gration, and the dissemination of a spirit of just discontent, had
been the only results of this high minimum price. The rnost unfore-
seen but by far the most serious result of this prohibitory policy
is embodied in the Act of the Imperial Parliament, 10 Vic., ch. 10,
and the Land Orders issued under it, which have been referred
to your Committee by a vote of the Council.

262 SELECT aOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Your Committee have hitherto considered the minimum price
of Crown I^and as a separate question ; they now proceed to regard
it in its collateral effects, and to show how the terms on which land
is sold influence the tenure on which unsold land is occupied. It was
in the power of the knperial Parliament to enact that land should
not be sold for less than £\ an acre, but there, unfortunately, its
power stops ; it could not make the land worth the sum, nor declare,
because it was unsold, it should be unoccupied, nor prevent those
who thus occupied it from drawing the inferences which their
situation naturally suggested. Those inferences were only too obvious
and too reasonable. The squatters, forced to occupy and forbidden
to buy — forbidden, by the policy of the Government, to acquire
lands by purchase, and allowed to occupy till that impossible
event should take place, saw that they had obtained, through the
impossibility of purchase, ail that a purchase could have given them,
and that the Law which rendered these lands unsaleable virtually
gave them away to their present occupants. Hence arose a party
in the Colony unknown before, who began to feel that they had a
vested interest in maintaining the prohibitory price, as a guarantee
that their occupation would never be disturbed. The policy of Sir
George Gipps, who endeavoured to counteract the growing feeling
of security entertained by the occupants of Waste Lands, not by
abrogating the prohibitory law on which it rested, but by an
arbitrary strain of the powers of the Executive, served only to
accelerate the crisis which nothing but a repeal of that law could
prevent. The result has been, that the Home Government has been
induced to take another step in advance, and by treating the
imagination of ;£'! an acre as a reality, and leasing the Crown Lands
to their present occupants till sold at ;^1 an acre, has in a manner
alienated the land possessions of the British Crown in New South
Wales. The most cursory perusal of the Evidence appended to this
Report, will satisfy any one that this is the opinion of those, alike,
who approve and who disapprove of the Land Orders; nay, more,
that it is this opinion, in which they both agree, which induces them
to approve or disapprove. The settlers object to these Orders,
because they confiscate the lands of the Colony; the squatters
approve of them, because they see no limit to the term of their
occupation under them. Be it for good or for evil, it should clearly
be understood that this is the effect unanimously attributed in the
Colony to these Land Orders.

Your Committee now proceed to examine these Orders in detail,
and first they would observe, that if the. minimum upset price of
3^1 an acre is to be maintained, the lands are substantially divided
by these Orders only into two classes — the confiscated and uncon-
fiscated; the former being equivalent to the intermediate and

LAND POLICY

263

unsettled, the latter to the settled districts. If land is to remain in the
possession of its present occupant till sold at an acre,^it matters
not whether he hold a lease for eight or fourteen years — whether
it is liable to be put up at auction at the end of every year, or at the
end of every fourteenth year — or whether he have or have not a
right of pre-emption. It is his, and his for ever, not because his title
is good, but because no one will be in a condition to avail himself
of its defects. The auction will never be demanded, the right of
pre-emption will never be exercised, for no one will be fodlish
enough to buy that which is his own already without purchase.
The efficacy of the minimum price of ;^1 an acre in confiscating is
so complete, that the grant of a renewable lease of fourteen years
adds little to it. It is only in the event of a reduction in the minimum
upset price that any practical difference will arise between the
intermediate and unsettled districts. If that reduction be withheld,
they may both be treated as one district, a district containing lands
alienated from the Crown as completely as by the most solemn
instrument of sale. . , .

. . . Now what species of ownership do these leases confer ? That it
is an ownership little short of freehold appears abundantly from the
evidence of those who expect to be their recipients. It appears,
therefore, that the danger of abuse is exactly equal in the one case
and in the other. The next evil of the system of grants mentioned by
His Lordship is, that Government must either suffer all desirable
land to be permanently appropriated, or interfere with the free
management of private property. In the present instance Govern-
ment has done both these things; it has appropriated about
180,000,000 of acres of land to about 1,800 persons, and that in a
country whose population is not 200,000, and it has endowed this
favored class with land at the rate of 100,000 acres per head, in
a country where there is one inhabitant to every 100,000 acres;
this certainly has the appearance of being premature. The Govern-
ment has coupled this premature appropriation with a regulation
prohibiting agriculture, which cannot be more aptly described,
than in the Words of the Despatch, “as greatly interfering with that
free management of their own property by individuals, which
is so essential to its improvemenffb The next evil the Despatch
mentions is dispersion; and surely a system which allots on an
average 100,000 acres to a single individual cannot, so far as
dispersion is concerned, be outdone by the wildest abuse of free
grants. Government does not leave men to themselves, but enforces
dispersion, while it thinks it is compelling concentration. Co-
operation, the division of labor, religious and secular instruction,
are all out of the question. Your Committee may here remark,
that the above enumerated ill effects of the system of grants.

264 SELECT ^DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN tllSTORY

how'ever much they may have been felt in other Colonies, have
been littl^ experienced in Australia. Hitherto this colony has not
had to complain of the accumulation of landed property in the
hands oT the few to the exclusion of the many, and of the conse-
quent dispersion afid stagnation of improvement. It is only since
the establishment of the high minimum price, that the Colony has
been threatened with these evils, and it certainly does strike your
Committee as strange to find the minimum price thus advocated,
on "'the ground of its tendency to prevent those very disorders of
which it is the sole and all sufficing cause. . . .

Your Committee cannot acquiesce in the proposition in the
Despatch, that a high price of land and the squatting system will
mutually support each other. It appears to tliem impossible the
two systems can work efficiently together. They never have done
so in this Colony. If the price be high the selling part of the system
is in abeyance, and the squatting part alone in operation, and the
effect will undoubtedly be, that instead of the high price maintain-
ing the squatting system, it will convert it into permanent owner-
ship, Nor will the squatting system maintain the high price, since
it is obvious that the best way to deter men from acquiring a
permanent ownership on hard terms, is to give them a temporary
occupation on easy terms ; if the minimum price be low, the former
will be the case; if high, the latter. In no case can the systems of
sale, and occupation without sale, mutually support each other.
Sale is the antagonist of temporary occupation, and this, in turn,
the antagonist of sale. If sale be brisk, it destroys temporary
occupation; if temporary occupation be prevalent, it deters sale;
they are like the scales of a balance, one of which must be depressed
if the other be elevated. ...

SOURCES USED FOR SECTION 5

A. Official Sources

1. Bigge, J. T. : Report of the Commissioner of Inquiry into
the State of Agriculture and Trade in the Colony of New
South Wales. P.P. 1823, X, 136.

2. Historical Records of Australia^ Series 1 .

3. New South Wales Government Gazette,

4. Sydney Gazette.

5. Statutes at Large,

6. Report of the Select Committe on the Act of Parliament
Regulating the Sale of Crown Lands, V, and P. of the
Legis, Coun. ofNS,W, 1843,

LAND POLICY

2G5

7. Report of the Select Committee on Crown Land Grie-
vances. V. and P, of the Legis. Conn, of X. SAW 18^4, \'oL JL

8. Report of the Select Committee on the Minimimi Upset
Price of Land. F. and P. of the Lefts. Conn, of X.SAV. IBd?,
VoL 11.

B. Otlier Primary Sources

1. Callaghan, T. : Acts and Ordinances of the Governor and Council

of JVew South Wales. 1844.

2. Harris, A.: Settlers and Convicts. 1852.

Section 6

THE SQUATTERS

I. THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE WOOL INDUSTRY

A. The Work of John B* The Market for Aus-
Macarthur. tralian Wool.

IL THE LIFE OF THE SQUATTER

The Preparation.

Dangers and Hardships,

The Station.

The Crown Lands

Work,

Commissioners.

Leisure.

Costs and Profits.

The success of John Macarthur as a sheep breeder, the suitable
climate and grasses in Australia, the crossing of the Blue
Mountains by Blaxland, W entworth, and Lawson, the market
for Australian wool in Great Britain — all these contributed to
the creation of the wool industry in Australia. This led to the
moulding of a distinct way of life in Australia — the life of the
squatter. Any attempt to illustrate this life should show the
great variety of experiences. For the lot of the squatter, as with
the convict, differed from man to man. For some it was a hard
life: heavily in debt to the financial companies, plagued by
drought, bushrangers and aborigines, the surrender of the run
was the only reward for years of toil. For others, the life was
hard, but, if fortune favoured their industry, the harvest was
abundant. IVithin a small space it is not possible to do justice
to such a rich theme. The documents merely sketch the outlines
of their life. To fill in some of the details see G. F. James
(Editor) : A Homestead History; A. Harris: Settlers and Convicts ;
E. M. Gurr: Recollections of Squatting in Victoria, See also the
bibliography in S. H. Roberts: The Squatting Age in Australia,
The section begins with a chronological summary of the main
events.

THE EARLY HISTORY of the WOOL INDUSTRY: 1794-1828

1794, Macarthur introduces Calcutta sheep into Australia.

1796. Macarthur purchases Merino sheep from South Africa.

1801. Macarthur takes Merino wool to England.

1804. Macarthur petitions for and receives land from the
British Government.

1828. Select Committee of House of Lords on British wool trade.

THE SQUATTERS 267

L THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE WOOL INDUSTRY
A. The Work of John xVIacarthur ^

1. Macartliur’s First Flocks. 1794-1810.

(Ev. of John Macarthur to J. T. Bigge. Quoted in S. -vL Onslow
(Editor): Some Early Records of The Mocarthurs of Camden, 1914,
pp. 59-60.)

In the year 1794, I purchased from an officer Sixty Bengal Ewes
and Lambs, which had been imported from Calcutta and very soon
after I procured from the Captain of a Transport from Ireland,
two Irish Ewes and a young Ram. The Indian Sheep produced
coarse hair and the wool of the Irish Sheep was then valued at no
more than 9d. per lb. By crossing the tw^o Breeds I had the satis-
faction to see the lambs of the Indian Ewes bear the mingled fleece
of hair and wool — this circumstance originated the idea of producing
fine wool in New South Wales. In the year 1796 (I believe) the two
sloops of war on this station were sent to the Cape of Good Hope,
and as their Commanders were friends of mine, I requested them to
enquire if there were any wool-bearing sheep at the Cape. At the
period of their arrival at the Settlement there was a flock of Merino
Sheep for sale, from which about twenty were purchased. Of these
I was favoured with Four Ewes and Two Rams, the remainder were
distributed amongst different individuals who did not take the
necessary precautions to preserve the breed pure and they soon
diijappeared — Mine were carefully guarded against an impure
mixture, and increased in number and improved in the quality
of their wool. In a year or two after I had an opportunity of aug-
menting my flock by' the purchase from Colonel Foveaux of 1200
Sheep of the common Cape Breed. In 1801 I took to England
specimens of the pure Merino Wool, and of the best of the crossbred,
and having submitted them to the inspection of a Committee of
Manufacturers, they reported the Merino Wool was equal to any
Spanish wool and the Crossbred of considerable value. Thus
encouraged I purchased Nine Rams and a Ewe from the Royal
Flock at Kew, and returned to this country determined to devote
my attention to the improvement of the Wool of my flocks. I only
landed here Five Rams and one Ewe of the Sheep purchased from
the Royal Flock. It is from these sources alone that my present
stock has been raised.

2. Macarthur Petitions the British Government. 1804.

(Macarthur’s Memorial to Committee of Privy Council, 1804.
Quoted in S. M. Onslow (Editor) : Some Early Records of the Mac-
arthurs of Camden, 1914, pp. 78-83.)

268 SELECT D|3CUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

THE MEMORIAL OF CAPTAIN JOHN MAGARTHUR
To th^ Right Honorable the Lords of the Committee of His
Majesty’s most Honourable Privy Council appointed for the
Consideration of the Matters of Trade and Foreign Plantations.

Most Respectfully states :

That as some doubts have been expressed of the practicability
of increasing the production of Fine Wool in New South Wales to
the extent that has been described in the Memorials which have been
presented to the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of
His Majesty’s Treasury, Your Lordships Memorialist feels it
incumbent upon him respectfully to endeavour to remove those
Doubts by a repetition of the Principle Facts contained in the
Representation he has already had the honor to make, and to
accompany it with such further Explanations and with a Reference to
such Evidence as he humbly hopes may be considered conclusive. . . .

When Your Lordships Memorialist left Port Jackson in 1801
his Flocks consisted of more than Two Thousand Sheep, the whole
of which had been bred from about Fifty Ewes in a little more than
Seven Years — and by the Returns that he has received of 1802 his
Flocks are increased to Three Thousand. He has not yet received
any Accounts of the Year 1803, but he concludes there must then
have been about Four Thousand, beyond which he has no expec-
tation they have much increased as most of the Lands contiguous to
his Farms have since his Departure from the Colony been appro-
priated for Cultivation.

Your Lordships Memorialist brought with him to England as
Samples Fleeces shorn from the Sheep imported from the Cape of
Good Hope; Fleeces shorn from their progeny bred in New South
Wales; and Fleeces shorn from Sheep of the mixed Breed, whose
Dams bore nothing but Hair or* coarse Wool. When these Samples
were shown to the most eminent Manufacturers and Merchants
concerned in the Woollen Trade, they all concurred in Opinion
that the worst specimens of the mixed Breed would be valuable
here, and the specimens of the finest kind bred in New South Wales
were much superior to the Wool of the original Sheep imported
from the Cape of Good Hope, and that they were equal to the very
best we ever receive from Spain. Indeed some of the Manufacturers
declared the wool to be superior to Spanish Wool in many respects,
and that if they could procure a sufficient supply it would enable
them to surpass all other Countries in the Manufacture of the best
Woollen Cloths. But of these Opinions perhaps it would be super-
fluous to say more, as the numerous Memorials presented to the
Lords of the Treasury from the Manufacturers and Merchants must
contain more decisive Evidence than any other Testimony that can
be offered on the Subject.

269

THE SQ,UATTERS

Your Lordships Memorialist is entirely convinced from the
Number of Sheep that have been already bred in New Sguth Wales^
and from the Improvement which he has witnessed in the Quality
of the W ool, that Millions of Sheep may be raised in that Country,
and that in a few years -the present Stock by proper attention may
be so increased as to produce a greater quantity of fine Wool, than
we are now obliged to purchase from Spain — and which he has
ascertained by the proposals of some eminent Ship Owners, may
be brought hither from New South Wales at no greater Freight "than
is paid for the Freight of Cotton Wool from the East Indies — namely
three pence per pound in time of War and three halfpence in
Peace. . . .

Your Memorialist will no longer trespass upon Your Lordships
attention than to say That if your Lordships shall be pleased to
sanction him in the undertaking on behalf of a Company, he will
submit to Your Lordships consideration the names of the many
respectable persons who have offered their assistance and declared
their willingness to form a Company.

But should Your Lordships more approve making the experiment
on a small scale upon the individual account of your Memorialist,
he will most cheerfully commence it with an allotment of Ten
Thousand Acres of Land and permission to select thirty Convicts
for Shepherds.

Your Lordships Memorialist would choose the Land Ten miles
from any of the Settlements where there is Cultivation, and he would
engage in return for the Indulgence to supply the Public with all
the Sheep it might be proper to kill, at a stipulated Price, by which
means Your Lordships Memorialist humbly presumes the Expenses
of Government in that Colony would be very much diminished in a
few years.

[Note: The Committee of the Privy Council accepted Macarthur’s request
for a land grant. For their reasons, and the instructions to King by Earl Camden
to provide Macarthur with land and labourers see S. M. Onslow (Editor):
Op. cit., pp. 95-103.]

3* Macarthur Reflects on the Future of the Wool Industry.

1818.

(J. Macarthur to W. Davidson, 3 September 1818. Quoted m
S. M. Onslow (Editor): Some Early Records of the Macarthurs of
Camden^ 1914, pp. 317-18.)

My feeble attempt to introduce Merino Sheep still creeps on
almost unheeded, and altogether unassisted. Few of the settlers
can be induced to take the trouble requisite to improve their
flocks, or to subtract a few guineas from their usual expenditure
(tea and rum) to purchase Spanish Rams, altho’ mine is the only
flock from which they can be had pure, I do not sell half a score a

270 SELECT riOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

year. Many believe that whatever improvement the wool receives
is the effect of climate, and not attributable to any particular
breed. I waiting impatiently for accounts of the sale of the wool
of 1816. The whole of it was more uniformly fine than any that had
been sent before, anS that of 1817, the present year is still better.
It is yet capable of further improvement. I expect it will continue
to increase in value for three or four years. With respect to numbers
I fear my flocks must remain stationary, unless an unexpected
change should be made in the system of managing the prisoners.
It is now the most difficult thing to keep a small number in any kind
of order and I am of opinion that he who should employ many,
would injure instead of improve his fortune. I am endeavouring to
break James and William in by degrees to oversee and manage
my affairs. They appear to be contented with their lot, but I by
no means think them well calculated for it. They have not sufficient
hardness of character to manage the people placed under their
control, and they set too little value upon money, for the profession
of agriculture which as you know requires that not a penny should
be expended without good reason.

B. The Market for Australian Wool

4. Increase in Export of Australian Wool. 1806-26.

(App. No. 1 to Report of Select Committee on State of British
Wool Trade. Sessional Papers of House of Lords 1828, Vol. V.)

SHEEP AND LAMBS WOOL IMPORTED INTO BRITAIN. 1804-1827.

Tear

From JVew Holland

Spain

Germany [exc, Prussia)

1804

[lbs,)

6,990,194

21,628

1805

6,858,738

36,787

1806

245

5,444,165

683,988

1807

562

10,291,316

192,010

1808

1,961,750

66,363

1809

4,283,674

613,813

1810

167

5,952,407

778,835

1811

2,581,262

30,577

1812

2,146,901

1814

32,971

6,723,417

3,432,465

1815

73,171

6,929,579

3,137,438

1816

13,611

2,958,607

2,816,655

1817

6,282,073

4,816,567

1818

86,525

8,760,627

8,432,237

1819

74,284

5,528,966

4,489,478

1820

99,415

3,536,229

5,113,442

1821

175,433

6,968,927

8,615,526

1822

138,498

5,994,298

11,125,114

1823

477,261

4,318,708

12,562,434^

1824

382,907

5,020,679

15,412,275

1825

323,995

8,206,427

28,799,661

1826

1,106,302

1.619,405

10,545,232

1827

512,758

3,898,006

21,220,788

THE SQ,UATTERS 271

5. A British Wool Merchant Praises Australian Wool. 1828.

(Extract from ev. of H. Hughes to Select Committee o«i State of
British Wool Trade, pp. 40-8. Sessional Papers of House of Lords 1828,
Vol. V.!

[Note: See also the evidence of S. Donaldson, T. Ehswith, H. King,
Ireland, J. Brooke and \\\ Nottage to the same Committee.]

Are you acquainted with the Wools grown in the Colonies of
New South Wales and Van Dienaen’s Land? — I am.

Do you know what is the quantity annually imported from those
colonies? — They have averaged about 2,000,000 of pounds within
the last few years ; they are every year sending in more. . . .

What is the quality, generally, of those Wools? — The quality
originally w^as very bad; but the climate has a most extraordinary
effect upon the fleece. Latterly they have been of varied qualities,
but all possessing an extraordinary softness, which the manufac-
turers here so much admire, that they are sought for more than
any other description of Wools, from that peculiar quality, which
is supposed to arise from the climate alone. They are known to
require less of the milling or pulling power than any other descrip-
tion of Wool.

Do you know whether any fine-wool sheep have been exported
to those colonies? — Yes, there have.

Are you aware whether the fleeces of sheep so exported have
improved or deteriorated in those colonies? — Yts; I know that
they have improved in a wonderful degree, which cannot be
accounted for by the best judges, except from the climate. . . .

What quantity could those colonies produce of fine Wool, the
description you mention, if the farmers in the colonies were
encouraged in the cultivation of it?— I should conceive myself
that that country is adequate to the growth of as much Wool of
a fine description as ever will be wanted by the manufacturers of
England; and from experience I have no doubt myself that fifteen
or twenty years hence it will be the case, that we shall have as
much Wool from those colonies as we shall want in this country
of the finer kind.

11. THE LIFE OF THE SQUATTER.

C. The Preparation

6. The Stores for a Squatter. 1831.

(Hogan Papers.)

Brownlow Hill,
Oct 31st, 1831.

Mr Hogan,

I was glad to see by your letter that you had been able to get the

272 SELECT ^DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

sheep away so soon after I left and that they had already profited
by the repoval. I now send you up

40 lbs tobacco

? lbs corrosive sublimate
lb sulphur
1 lb blue-stone
12 gals turpentine
1 lb tar
6 pr shears
1 cwt soap
2 cwts salt

24 lbs tea & 137 lbs sugar
2 spades
1 straw gimblet
70 yds of parramatta cloth
14 sheets
7 blankets
5 beds
1 lb twine
1 lb thread
5 gals of Gin
1 jack plane
1 5 wool-packs
1 wool press
1 table for sorting wool
1000 Hurdle rails
i doz sickles
I cask
1 Tent

1 matrass to be kept

1 pillow > for me

4 blankets
1 carpet bag ^

Yours &c.

Mr Hogan, Geo Macleay

Overseer at

Mr Macleays Station,

Cuttawally.

?• Selecting a Run. 1840 c.

(E. M. Gurr: Recollections of Squatting in Victoria^ pp. 67-9.)

[Note: For a full description of Gurr’s experiences see pp. 67-87. For another
example of selecting a run see A. Harris: Settlers and Convicts, p. 228 et seqil

In the meantime I had learnt from the stockman at Wyuna,
the station at which I had found my bullocks, which was also the

THE SQ,UATTERS 273

outside station in that direction, that there was abundance of
excellent unoccupied country close at hand, which, with the consent
of his master, he volunteered to show me. This was quite a godsend
to me, and of course I accepted his offer, and, the day after my
new overseer left with the bullocks, rode ovet** Tongalk Plain in
his company; and, as it appeared to me well adapted for stock,
I made up my mind to abandon Wolfscrag, and take it up as a
run with the least delay possible. To do this there were, in those
days, no hindrances of any sort, the custom being to drive ofte’s
stock on to any unoccupied country, and then apply to the Commis-
sioner of Crown Lands for a license to depasture', the application
being granted as a matter of course. The extent of land licensed
by the Commissioner was proportioned, in a rough way, to the
quantity of stock owned by the applicant; this permission to
occupy country being renewable yearly, until the ground should be
required by Government for other purposes, on the annual payment
of ;/(^10 into the Treasury. Besides this fee for a license, which,
except in the vicinity of Melbourne, everyone thought would last
for a generation or two, there was also a small capitation tax
payable yearly on the sheep. The extent of countiy which I applied
for, when I got back to Wolfscrag, was fifty square miles, half of
it on each bank of the River Goulburn.

Having determined to remove my flocks from Wolfscrag to
Tongala, as I called my new run, I started with the stockman
(to whom I gave ^(^5 for his trouble) direct for the former run through
the bush, by the places now known as Bundari, Goragorag, Colbin-
abbin, and Redcastle. By this time, as is usual with a little practise,
I had become a tolerable bushman for a new chum, and the distance
saved by the route I took going home, across entirely unexplored
country, was about fifty miles, the distance through the bush from
Tongala to Wolfscrag being about eighty miles.

Hence the reader will see that the most fortunate thing which
befell me at that time was the loss of my bullocks, as it was the
means of making me a bushman, and of my getting an excellent
run; so right glad was I to leave the barren scrubs of Wolfscrag and
its wretched creek for the well-grassed plains of Tongala and the
ever-flowing Goulburn. The occasion was one of unmixed
satisfaction; and the country between the two places being unoccu-
pied, I took it for granted that the “Scab Act’’ offered no obstacle
to the removal of my flocks in the proposed direction.

8. Squatters as Pioneers. 1838.

{Sydney Gaz^tte^ 15 November 1838.)

Australia Felix. — We have received the account of an expedition
into the interior, by a party of ou’r enterprising gentlemen settlers,

274

SELECT

DOCUMENTS

IN AUSTRALIAN

HISTORY

in search of the Australia Felix of Major Mitchell. The party in
question j set out au cheval^ well armed and provisioned, taking led
horses, w*ere out twenty-four days, .and guided by the Major’s
map, reached Australia Felix. They describe the herbage as plentiful
and most luxuriant?; the water however in less abundance than was
expected, but that can be accounted for by the long succession of
drought since Major Mitchell’s discovery. They found the blacks
numerous and troublesome, and returned after having travelled
over five hundred miles.

[Xote; The document above illustrates the importance of the explorers in
finding land suitable for squatters. The diaries of the explorers show quite dearly
that this was one of their main interests. For extracts from the diaries of Blaxland,
Evans, Oxley, Cunningham, Hume and Hovell, Lockyer and Mitchell to illus-
trate this point see E. Scott (Editor) : Australian Discovery by Land. For an account
of the occupation of Eastern Australia by the squatters see S. H. Roberts: The
Squatting Age in Australia, Ch. 6. See also R. V. Billis and A. S. Kenyon:
Pastures jXew.

The interest of the squatters in the work of the explorers is indicated by the
next document.]

9, Exploring and the Squatters.

( The Australian, 4 February 1848.)

SIR T. L. MITCHELL’S
EXPEDITION

May be had at this Office, and of the principal Booksellers in
the City, a hlap of the Explorations of the above Expedition,
combined with the travels of Dr Leichhardt. With the descriptive
matter Price, 3s. 6d.

Map alone, 2s. 6d.

This Map is of the highest importance to the Squatting interests.

Australian Journal Office,

March 1, 1847.

D. The Station

10# A Squatter’s Home in the Port Phillip District. 1840 c.

(E. M. Curr: Recollections of Squatting in Victoria, pp. 30-4.)

Having unsaddled and tethered our horses in one of the gullies
on some coarse grass, we entered the overseer’s hut, the interior
of which was scarcely an improvement on its outward appearance.
It consisted of three rooms, one of which was a store, in which
were kept the flour, tea, sugar, meat-cask, &c., of the establishment;
another was the bedroom of the overseer’s female servant; whilst
the principal apartment did duty as kitchen, dining room, and

THE SQ^UATTERS 275

overseer’s bedroom, and was arranged in this way: — On one side
and close to the fireplace, stood a rough bedstead, an opossum-rug
spread over, which concealed the bed-clothes benetth. In the
centre of the room there was a large sea-chest, which scrv^ed as a
table; and at the fireplace, which occupied tbe whole of one end
of the building, and was almost as large as one of the smaller rooms,
the supper was being cooked — to the no small increase of a heat
already excessive. Against the walls, around which were hung a
pair or two of horse-hobbles, a gun, stock-whip, some tin clashes,
pannikins, a rickety looking-glass, and other odds and ends
appertaining to the gentle craft of squatting, were set three rough
stools ; and on the mantelpiece were disposed, evidently with some
regard to effect, a couple of Hall’s powder canisters, of a flaming
red colour; a horse’s hoof; some blue paper boxes containing
seidlitz powders (the overseer’s substitute for sodawater); a meer-
schaum' pipe, with a large glass-stoppered druggist’s bottle as a
centre-piece, containing some three pints of a sherry-coloured
liquid, and labelled butyr of antimony. In one of the walls of the hut
there was an aperture of about a foot square, cut through the slabs
as a window, before which was drawn, on strings, a little curtain
of white calico. The outer door, which always stood open by day,
was secured at night by a bar; and a couple of wool-packs, nailed
to the tie-beams and reaching the ground, supplied the place of
doors to the two smaller apartments.

On arriving, we had been met by the overseer, who ushered us
into the hut, and formally put me in possession of the premises,
with the air of one who was relinquishing what he evidently looked
on as a very complete little establishment. Of the correctness of
his views on this subject it hardly needed the smile, which I thought
I detected on the faces of my friends, to remind me that some
diversity of opinion might exist. There was a momentary lull as
we sat down, and the eyes of each wandered involuntarily over
the hut, and took stock of its contents. It was clean in its way, but
very comfortless as I thought then; later on I got used to things
still rougher. After a moment, the friend who accompanied me
broke the silence, remarking, as he turned towards me — “The hut
is well enough, though rather small; I assure you we don’t think
this bad in the bush.”

“As tight as a nut, sir,” said the overseer, interposing and looking
up at the ridge-pole, evidently pleased. “I had it new barked in the
spring. You’ll find everything Yticy comfortable and dry,” continued
he, addressing me. “A grand thing, sir, a dry hut; a grand thing 1
My old one at Western Port used to leak like a sieve, and we were
always wet. But, I dare say, gentlemen, you are hungry after your
ride.” And, turning to the servant, he ordered supper.

276 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

In due time the sea-chest table was covered, with a clean towel;
three willow-pattern plates, in more or less dilapidated plight,
were piace(i on it; an old pint pannikin, partially filled with clay
and topped up with mutton fat from the frying-pan, with a bit of old
shirt wrapped round stick stuck in the centre for a wick, did duty
as a lamp; some odd knives and forks made their appearance from
the store-room, whilst a round wooden box (marvellously like a
lather box) supplied the place of a salt-cellar. Beside each plate the
servant laid a pint tin pannikin and a slice of damper ; and a large
tin dish was placed in the centre of the table. Everything was clean
at least, and the tinware bright as silver. After these preliminary
steps had been taken, some rather coarse brown sugar was put in
the pannikins, which were then filled with tea from an iron kettle
which was simmering by the fire, and finally a leg of mutton was
transferred on the end of a large iron skewer, amidst clouds of
vapour, from the iron pot in which it was boiling, to the tin dish
on the table, the overseer at this stage of the proceedings inviting
us cordially to ‘‘sit in” and have supper whilst it was hot. It certainly
was hot, and so were we, — and no danger of us, at least, getting
cool. The atmosphei'e of the room, the fire, the vapour, the odour
of the “fat lamp”, the scalding hot tea and reeking mutton, were
neither pleasant nor inviting; but as there was no preferable
alternative, w^e did “sit in” to the edge of the sea-chest on our three-
legged stools, and, setting to work manfully, acquitted ourselves as
w^ell as could have been expected of novices under the circumstances.

Messieurs y vous etes servisV'' said one of my friends, laughing, as we
began our meal; probably some hotel on the Boulevards suggesting
itself to his mind as a contrast!

li. A Squatter’s Home in the Moreton Bay District. 1845 c.

(J. D. Lang: Cooksland in North-Eastern Australia^ pp. 120-2.)

Captain Griffin’s house was of the same primitive character as
those of squatters generally, consisting of rough slabs fixed in
sleepers below, and in a grooved wallplate above, and roofed with
large sheets of bark, supported by rough saplings for rafters.
Mahogany tables, chairs, sideboards, &c., and the other moveables
of a respectable family in a town, appeared rather incongruous
articles of furniture in such an extempore structure; but they gave
promise at least of a better house, which I was told it was intended
to erect as soon as the more important out-door operations of the
establishment should afford the requisite leisure for the purpose,
the present house being intended eventually for the barn. I was
amused at the ingenious nautical expedient that had been had
recourse to to form an additional apartment. The carpet which the
family had had in use in their dining-room in Sydney was “triced

THE SQ^UATTERS 277

up” to use the nautical phrase, during the day, to the wail-plate
of the slab-house; but on the usual signal of ‘Xet go the Haulyards,”
being given at the proper hour for retirement at night? the carpet
descended like the curtain of a theatre, and not only formed a
partition between the sitting-room and a commodious bed-room
but stretching, as it did, along the whole extent of the slab-wall
of the latter, served to exclude the cold night wind which would
otherwise have found a thousand entrances by the interstices
between the slabs. These indeed were so numerous as to render
the formality of a window quite unnecessary, and a work of super-
erogation. As being the greater stranger on the occasion, the use of
this bed-room, in which I found a Colonial cedar post-bed, with
the usual furniture of a respectable bed-room in a town, was, in
the absence of the lady of the house, assigned to me; my fellow-
traveller being accommodated with a stretcher in a detached
building along with Captain G.’s sons. On the whole, I was much
gratified with my visit to this recently formed Squatting-Station
so far to the northward; as it showed how very comfortably a
respectable family could be settled in the bush, with comparatively
moderate means and exertion, in Australia, with all their flocks and
herds around them, like the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
of old. I question indeed whether any of these patriarchs was ever
more comfortably lodged than Captain Griffin; for I should
certainly prefer an Australian slab-house roofed with bark to a tent,
however patriarchal. At all events, although any one of these
eminent patriarchs would doubtless have been most willing to have
treated my fellow-traveller and myself to a kid of the goats, or a
fatted-calf and a cake baked in the ashes — which in Australia is
usually styled a damper — I am quite sure that not one of them
could have added to the entertainment the never-failing and
universally acceptable beverage of the bush in Australia — a
comfortable cup of tea.

E. Work

12. The Life of the Shepherd. 1825.

(P. Cunningham: Two Tears in N,S,W.^ Vol. I, pp. 250-2.)

Fine wool being the article which has chiefly raised the colony
to its present high station, and the article too most befitting the
emigrant’s attention, sheep-husbandry claims a particular portion
of regard. The sheep here are divided into flocks of about three
hundred breeding ewes, or four hundred wethers, in each. Every
flock has a shepherd, who takes his sheep out to graze before sun-
rise in the morning, and brings them in after sun-set at night.
He keeps always before the flock, to check the forward among them
from running onwards and wearying out the old, sick, and lame;

278 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

making all thus feed quietly, so as to keep them in good condition.
In summer, he sees too that they have water during the heat of the
day; and iif drawing up under a tree for shade when it is too hot
for feeding, he passes occasionally gently among them, spreads
them out, and make% them take a fresh position in as small groups
as possible under another tree, because, when they remain crowded
too long together in one place, they are apt to become broken-
winded. It is a rule, that sheep should never remain in one spot
so lo»g as to paddle the ground much with their feet; and hence,
in riding round your sheep-stations, you have something whereby
to judge whether or not your instructions are attended to. The
shepherd takes out his victuals with him, and is required to be on
the alert all day long, to prevent the sheep from being lost in the
woods, or the native dogs from pouncing in among them. They must
always be driven slowly to pasture, and if you perceive that the
shepherd can walk quietly among them without disturbing them,
you may set Kim down as a gentle and a careful man ; for if he uses
his flock harshly, they will be naturally terrified by him. Three
flocks are always penned together in contiguous hurdles under the
charge of a watchman, who counts each regularly in at night, and
the shepherds again count them out in the morning; — so that they
form a regular check upon each other, and prevent losses from
carelessness or depredation. The watchman has a small weather-
proof watch-box to sleep in, and is assisted by a watch-dog: he
keeps up a good fire, which generally deters all native dogs from
approaching the fold. The hurdles are made of light swamp oak,
iron bark, or gum, measuring seven feet long, with five bars, so
close together that a young iamb cannot creep through, and usually
cost about Is. 6d. apiece. They are shifted to fresh ground daily,
being sloped outwards and propped together by means of forked
sticks, driving a stake through between the bars here and there to
keep the hurdles firm, and to prevent the wind from blowing them
over, little support being derived from their feet, which are pressed
but slightly into the ground. All branches of trees are carefully
removed from the hurdled grounds before the sheep are driven in,
to prevent any of the latter being staked; the hurdles too are never
pitched where ant-hills are, or under a tree with rotten boughs upon
it, while the trees with black bark are carefully denuded thereof,
to prevent discoloration of the wool.

13. Shepherds — ^Bond and Free. 1835-40 c.

(A. Harris: Settlers and Convicts^ pp. 329-32.)

At the station were two shepherds who took* out the sheep over
the adjacent hills by day, and a hut-keeper was responsible for them
by night. The- flocks themselves were each about 800 strong, fully

279

THE SqUATTERS

twice as many as a shepherd can manage in a thickly timbered and
mountainous country. The master grumbles if the flock is not
allowed to spread; he says the shepherd must be keeping them
together by severe dogging, and that running so close they cannot
fill their bellies ; for this, if the shepherd is a/ree man, he will often
refuse to pay him his wages ; if he is a prisoner, he takes him before
some other sheep-holding settler in the commission of the peace
and flogs him. On the other hand, if the shepherd suffers the flock
to spread, in these mountainous runs especially, they g^t into
creelts and hollows; and he loses sight of them and leaves them
behind; or a native dog sneaks in among them, and, as it is the
habit of these animals to bite as many as they can before beginning
to prey, 20, 30, 50 get bitten, most of them mortally, before the
shepherd sees or hears the stir and comes to their rescue. By this
time the whole flock perhaps is scattered in ail directions by the
panic to which sheep are so liable. For these mishaps again, if the
shepherd is free, the master refuses to pay his ’vvages, and tells him
to go to law and get them if he can; which he knows, in nine cases
out of ten, the man will not do from want of confidence in the
administration of justice: if he is a prisoner he flogs him. And this
flogging answers two purposes, he supposes (though, as I am to
show, he is sorely mistaken) : he imagines that it spurs the man to a
sort of nervous and extranatural watchfulness from terror of the
lash; arid then again he knows (for in this particular he is by
no means mistaken) that this intimation of ill demeanor will
impede the man with the authorities in getting his ticket ^ of
leave to work for himself; and so he shall retain for some time
longer than he otherwise could a servant whose cost is not half
what he must give a free man. But though he can in this arbitrary
manner stop a free man’s balance of wages w^hen his term ^ of
service is up, the free man still has this point on his side
— that he can keep on drawing goods level with his earnings
through the whole period, and so leave no balance to be cheated of.
Yet again, on the other hand, the settler charges just double the
Sydney cash prices; so that in this way the man really gives his
master half his earning to get the other half. And thus after all, as
the settlers say in their representations to the legislature, free and
bond labour do really stand on about level terms. The convict is
only allowed necessaries equal to half what the free man demands ,
but the extra amount payable to the free man can either be stopped
by a simple refusal to pay it if left to accumulate, or if the man, in
fear of being cheated, draws it in goods from the settlers store,
the total will still be reduced to one half by selling to him at double
the prices (and often more than treble) which the goods cost in
Sydney. So that the gist of the case is just this:— The New South

280

SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Wales sheep-master throws the grand and insuperable risk (in such
a country; of his trade on his labourer’s shoulders : if bond, the man
pays for it by having right only to half wages ; if free, by being cheated
out of what? he agrees for. And let the point I started from be here
recollected, that ail thF wrong is mainly founded on another — that
of making each man do two men’s work ; of giving men 800 sheep
where 400 would be a full flock to give fair play to. It may be
replied — How can masters be so blind to their own interests?
That L cannot say. I am merely relating facts, and how they tell
on the labourer. I have heard large flock-holders who were of
liberal character laugh at the folly of the thing as regards the
master’s interests, and condemn it as regards the men’s rights;
but I never heard one illiberal, avaricious man, which certainly two
thirds of the sheep-masters are, say one word about it. When I came
to have flocks of my own, if ever I hinted at the subject to such
persons they always silenced it direct! y. I never could yet procure an
explicit sentence out of them respecting it, excepting some such as

these: “Oh, the d d scoundrel! he can mind them all if he likes.

D n him, he’ll want a donkey next to ride after his flock.”

Do not Mr. and Mr. run as large flocks on as close a run,

and are not they magistrates?”

14. A Squatter Complains about bis Servants. 1847-8.

(Hobler MSS., VoL V.)

May 10, 1848

(Son Teddy ill)

Yesterday, our (servants) shewed their true colours, the woman
refused to wash some trifling things required for Teddy — because
it was Sunday — as she said by her husbands wish — she has never
olfered the slighest help since he has been ill, although she knows
well, two of the family sit up every night, and that he can’t be left
for a moment, night or day — ^she was reminded of her unfeeling
conduct, and in a passion declared she would do not more whilst
she remains on the premises — they are both old convicts but even in
that class I never before met with any so devoid of feeling under
such circumstances — another cause for the family being moved to a
neighbourhood [i.e. Bacchus Marsh] where masters and servants
are not obliged to change places, at the pleasure of the latter. . . .

6th April, 1847

A hut-keeper and bullock driver bolted without any known cause
within the last ten days, and the two men who contracted to fence
in the point walked off for fear they should be without tobacco
till the drays returned.

THE SQ^UATTERS

28 i

15. Droving. 1840 c.

(E. M. Gurr: Recollections of Squatting in Victoria, pp. 161-4,)

As Steele’s Creek was rather overstocked with six thousand sheep,
according to the notions of those times (when people entertained
somewhat princely ideas on the subject of feed for their flocks),
it was decided to reduce their numbers, and I accordingly started for
Tongala with two thousand of the ewes. IVIy road was by what we
now know as Pyalong, Egan’s Creek, Redcastle, and Golbinabbin.
The summer — for it was the month of December — was hot alid dry,
and at Mount Camel, or, as the Blacks call it, Yiberithoop, my sheep
got their last drink, the distance from Tongala being about fifty-five
miles. From Yiberithoop down the Golbinabbin Greek, and across
the plains to Tymering, took me, I remember, two days and a half
of tedious driving, the sheep being in one lot with two shepherds.
As a matter of course I had a bullock-dray with me, on which we
carried, amongst other things, a cask of water for ourselves and the
sheep dogs, in connection with which arose a dispute between the
men which resulted in a serious loss to my father. It happened in
this way. As the shepherds toiled over the heated plain, painfully
driving before them the thirsty flock, which, accustomed to the
green grass of the cool hilly country, could ill support the heat of the
plains, the bullock-driver, who was a cantankerous, bad-tempered
fellow, overtook them, and refused to allow the men to get a drink
from the cask. This of course irritated them not a little, and occasion-
ed a row at our mid-day camp, which ended in my interfering and
finally sending the bullock-driver about his business, a step which
turned out to be as unfortunate as it was hasty and imprudent.
Of course, as the first consequence, I had to tie up my horse behind
the dray and drive the team myself, which, however, did not trouble
me much. Towards sundown that evening we arrived at Tymering,
and camped amongst the she-oaks, and so far everything went on
well.

The whole party, however, was a good deal fagged, as our drive
of eight miles, which was all we could accomplish, was over treeless
plains, under a burning sun, so that nothing but the most constant
efforts on our part could keep the sheep moving. It was Christmas-
eve, I remember, and a furious hot wind had been blowing the
whole day in our faces. Weary, begrimed and half-choked with the
dust, with blood-shot eyes and sunburnt faces, the three of us sat at
the camp, after having had a pot of tea and something to eat,
our thirst but half-quenched, each one by himself, with his back
against the leeward side of a tree. The mournful wailing of the
wind as it streamed through the she-oak scrub, and our fatigue
together, made us disinclined to talk; so we sat in silence, each, I
suppose, occupied with his own thoughts. The fierce sirocco was

282 SELECT DC^CUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

driving before it sticks and leaves; and, in the distance, quantities
of peculiar red-coloured bushes were rolling away to the southward,
tumbling ovSr and over before the gale. The horizon had that
singular wavy appearance which is common to the plains in such
weather; no 'birds weTre to be seen, but here and there moving
columns of dust, grass, and leaves, the result of whirlwinds, towered
high in the air; whilst, close at hand, covered with ashes from the
small fire, which, though lately kindled, had already burnt itself
out, lay our kettle, frying-pan, and pannikins, and the bag contain-
ing our gritty meat and damper. To complete the scene there were
the panting' sheep, and bullocks with protruding tongues; the
close-on-setting sun bathing the landscape in a dull red light,
suggestive of an eclipse. Altogether it was a melancholy camp that
night, and the more so from the reduction in our little party.

The next morning, however, as we took the road at day dawn,
we were enjoying all the exhilaration of a change of weather and a
light southerly breeze, so that we accomplished about six miles to
our day camp before the great heat came on. It being only nine
o’clock when we arrived, no probability of being able to get the
sheen to move till three, and the distance from Tongala but thirteen
miles, I unfortunately determined, being a little sick of the work, and
short-handed, to let the bullocks out of the dray, and on my horse
drive them into the station to water; having no doubt that a fresh
team, with men and dogs, might be back early to bring on the
sheep, which were now beginning to get knocked up from thirst.
However, though I arrived in good time, and sent out a fresh team
with such directions as would have secured satisfactory results if
they had been followed, it so happened that the driver allowed his
bullocks to give him the slip, went after them, and never returned;
there being no doubt that the poor fellow, who was a one-eyed man,
lost himself and perished miserably from want of water; whilst,
from the delay thus occasioned, five hundred of the flock died the
next day, before reaching the river, or shortly after.

16. Fencing and its Eflfects. 1850 c.

(G. F. James (Editor) : A Homestead History^ pp. 83-4.)

This work [i.e. of tail-docking and ear-marking in lambing time]
was carried on by us, year after year, while the sheep were grazed
on the open unfenced runs, but was superseded, to our great relief,
when fenced paddocks became practicable; but that was not until
a liberal use of strychnine poison had exterminated the native dog;
and sheep fences on alienated runs or portions of them could only
then be erected in forest country where cheap material, brush-
wood, logs, or dead wood, was growing or lying on the line. As

THE SqUATTERS 283

no compensation was given under any of the Land Acts for im-
provements, but merely a notice to remove them within a month,
it was not at all likely that substantial fencing could^ be erected
till the runs or portions of them had become the squatters freehold,
which was not until some years after the openkig up of the diggings
and the same number of years after the time referred to in these
reminiscences.

Where paddocks could be made a great saving was effected by the
substitution of one or two boundary riders for every six or eighfmen,
shepherds and hut-keepers, and the carrying capabilities were
greatly increased also. But the saving was only" real while the runs
remain unalienated; when the grazing lands became freehold, this
great saving disappeared and the balance was altogether, and
adversely, on the other side. Under the shepherding system, the
whole working expenses, shearing included, did not amount to more
than j^60 per thousand, a little over a shilling each sheep; but when
the lands were put up for sale and purchased, at an average of ^^2
^cre, there was the interest or rent on the purchased
freehold and the substantial fencing to be reckoned, as well as the
working expenses, which brought up the cost of each sheep to at
least 3/6, at a sheep to the acre, and it has to be good land to do that.

F. Leisure

17. Family Entertainment. 1850 c.

(G. F. James (Editor) : A Homestead History^ p. 162.)

We are able to enjoy ourselves very pleasantly in our domestic
circle. What with music, singing, and now and then a little dancing
of an evening, we have very little reason to complain of the loneli-
ness of the bush or to sigh for the gaiety and amusements of the city.
A short time ago we had what very much reminded me of years
ago at home, that was a tea-party something like what we used to
have at the book meetings at Plaistow; there were about twenty of
us altogether. As, however, we had no books to discuss after tea, we
substituted music, singing and dancing, interspersed with games
and tricks, and what was equally important, quite an elegant supper,
got up under the joint superintendence of Mrs, Eager and Caroline.

18. The Leisure Occupations of a Bachelor. 1840 c.

(E. M. Curr: Recollections of Squatting in Victoria^ loc. cit.)

In the matter of books I believe we were better off than most of
our neighbours, though those in our possession had been got together
in a haphazard sort of way, at various times and without any idea
of making a collection for the bush. However, from a pair of stout

284 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

wooden pegs in the wali-plate of the sitting-room of our rough, but
not uncomfortable, slab hut at Tongala, surrounded by a miscel-
laneous collection of fire-arms, foils, masks, wooden sabres, fencing
gloves, stockwhips, spurs, and other articles which embellished the
walls, hung, in the p4ace of honour, some shelves made of bark, on
which '^vere ranged our literary treasures. These volumes, our
great resource for years against ennui^ for want of something new,
were read, re-read, and discussed, I cannot say how often. In fact,
several of them became studies in our small circle. Amongst them
were a number of histories, ancient and modern, Bourrienne’s
‘ 'Napoleon”, Segur’s "Histoire de Napoleon et de la Grande
Armee”, O’Meara’s "Voice from St. Helena”, "The Court and
Gamp of Bonaparte”, "The Alhambra, or New Sketch Book”;
the plays of Racine, Corneille, and Moliere; the poetical works of
Milton, Shakespeare, Byron, Tommy JMoore, Scott, and Burns.

There were also several of the Waverley Novels, some of them in
French translations, "Travels in the East”, by Lamartine, Stephens,
and Chateaubriand; Silvio Pellico’s "Le-Mie Prigioni”, Horace’s
"Odes”, Pope’s "Iliad”, Junius’s "Letters”, some of Florian’s works,
Sterne’s "Sentimental Journey”, "Blackstone’s Commentaries”,
Adam Smith’s "Wealth of Nations”; two or three elementary
works on natural science; "Youatt on the Sheep and Horse”; and
a pile of old magazines, chiefly Blackwood’s, and amongst them
those in which the "Noctes Ambrosianae” had appeared. We had,
besides, a few colonial works, such as "Major Mitchell’s Explor-
ations”, and the "Memoirs of Jorgen Jorgenson, ex-king of Iceland,”
whom I remember to have seen when a clerk in my father’s office.

Altogether our collection amounted to about a hundred and
fifty volumes, of which those mentioned are fair samples. None of
them, perhaps, were left entirely unread; diversity of taste, however,
leading to one of us interesting himself in one subject, and another
in another. A subject we all enjoyed was Eastern travel; and,
indeed, two of our little circle visited later on many of the scenes
we so often read and talked about in our solitude at this time. As the
reader may imagine, the confinement of our reading within such
narrow limits was not a matter of choice. It arose from the circum-
stance that books were hardly obtainable in Melbourne in those
days. As an instance of this, I may mention that, having taken a
fancy to learn something of the discovery and conquest of America,
I tried to obtain "Herrera”, "Bernal Diaz”, and some other works,
but without success. Of the volumes in our collection, very favourite
ones with me were those of Washington Irving, which treat of
IMoorish times in Spain; and as that writer’s studies on the subject
at his villa on the Hudson were the cause, as he tells us, of his
visiting Granada, so my acquaintance with the pages of the

THE SQ^UATTERS 2B5

American resulted subsequently in mv pavino a visit to Andalusia
(pp. 359-61). ' ^

As, however, one cannot always be reading, especially the same
books, we used sometimes, in the evening, by the light of our tallow
candle, to pass an hour at cards, chess, or draughts. We had also
a number of out-of-door amusements, which stood us in good stead,
and enabled us to while away many a morning which otherwise
would have been dull enough. Amongst them were swimming,
shooting, throwing spears, and so forth. To such exercises, incfeed,
we were much more given than any of our neighbours; and as
for horses and hunting, many of my happiest hours were passed in
the saddle, for which, in my youth, I had a perfect passion.

But though in those days I doated on horses, and especially on
a horse at a gallop through a pleasant sapling scrub, where" the
chances of getting a broken neck or a knee knocked out of joint
seemed about equal, still in wet weather, when the then untrodden
soil was too soft for galloping, I made shift to amuse myself with
hunting on foot. In this pursuit the charm of the thing was the
scope it gave for the exercise of ingenuity in tracking and reading
from the tracks the history of the chase. On the whole, I do not
know but that one got as much amusement and excitement out
hunting on foot as on horseback. Of course, the nature of the
amusements was quite different. At that time tracking was com-
paratively easy, where it is now impossible (pp. 371-2).

Another out-of-door amusement to which I was much given was
duck-shooting, especially in winter and spring, when trees and
shrubs and the banks of lagoons are in their best attire. To me the
stillness and freshness into which this sort of shooting led were
always a great attraction. Another of our pastimes was breaking
young horses, though, as we had only a dozen brood mares, our
pleasures in that direction were necessarily limited. We also
domesticated some emu and wild pups, the observance of whose
habits used to amuse us. Corroborees, which were very frequent
at one or other of our stations, were another resource, though
eventually we became rather blase as regards that amusement,
and only sat out the choice morceaux. After all, however, yarning
with the Bangerang, swimming, climbing trees in the native
fashion, throwing spears, and hunting principally occupied our
leisure hours; and, as the poet says —

‘‘Thus the days of Thalaba went by!’’

As the reader may imagine, these were dull enough at times; but
there were others worse — lengthy intervals of mixed ennui and low
spirits, literally of times a fumer pipette et a ne rien faire. When overtaken
by this complaint, which, of course, was when we were out of work,

286 SELECT J^OCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

horses, dogs, guns, spears, and books became alike insufferable.
We came to loathe everything about us, and for the time it seemed
to me there was little to choose between our position and that of
Peliico in the Spielberg; conversation dried up, and gloom gradually
overshadowed us. . f .

Intervals of solitude, too, each of us had occasionally to go
through. Once, for instance, it was my luck to pass three weeks at
Tongala, during which I did not see a face, white or black. We were
short-handed, so one of us had to remain at the head station, and
by chance it fell to my lot. The weather was frightfully hot at the
time, and, being a prisoner with nothing to occupy me, I fell into
very irregular ways. Of the days of the month I soon lost count.
Sometimes I went to bed late and sometimes early. When I rose
late in the morning, I fancy the crows thought the silence of the
place, the. unopened doors and smokeless chimneys, portended
something suspicious. At all events, they used to annoy me a good
deal with their cawing, as they stealthily approached the hut along
the top rails of the paddock fence. Probably the muzzle of my gun
thrust through the window, and the discharge of one or both barrels,
conveyed to them the first intimation of my being still in the flesh,
and of my objection to being disturbed. Quiet restored, I used to
sally out with my kangaroo-dog into the intense glare of the sun,
despatch the wounded, have a look round, and saunter to the
bathing-place, some fifty yards away. The weather was so hot that
even at an early hour the choondoonga^ as the Bangerang called the
little birds, had taken shelter in the trees, out of which occasionally
one dropped dead. Days of this sort were, of course, very hard to
get through. Except to cook for myself and chop my firewood, I
had no employment. Reading I found it difficult to settle down to
in the absence of bodily labour, of which I got but little, as it was
probable if I left my hut to hunt or shoot (the only things I could
do) that it might be robbed in my absence. Still this idleness,
compulsory though it was, always brought with it feelings of self-
reproach (pp. 374-7).

19. TRe Squatter in Town. 1840 c.

(E. M. Gurr: Recollections -of Squatting in Victoria^ pp. 7-9.)

Of the gentlemen one saw, a good sprinkling were squatters^
who had brought their flocks and herds from New South Wales or
Tasmania. As a variety of the genus homo they were distingu'shable
by their hirsute appearance; whiskers, beards, and moustaches
being decidedly in the ascendant among them. Many of them, I
noticed, indulged in blue serge shirts in lieu of coats, cabbage-tree
hats, belts supporting leather tobacco-pouches, and in some few
cases a pistol, which, with breeches, boots, and spurs, completed

287

THE SQUATTERS

the costume. The horse, too, seemed an animal ail but inseparable
from the young gentlemen I am attempting to describe, who, if not
engaged in chatting in twos and threes at the corners of streets,
or in the act of coming out of or going into one of the inns, might
generally be observed hurrying on horsebaclpfrom one end of the
little town to the other, occasionally, to avoid detours, taking their
nags over one of the gutter chasms which intersected the streets.
One young squatter, I remember, was particularly noticeable,
as it was his custom to have a black boy in livery mounted on his
horse’s croup. Nor did such little eccentricities seem to surprise the
residents or attract much notice, the accepted idea seeming to be,
that bushmen were not by any means amenable to the slow ways of
the dwellers in towns, and that many things were proper enough in
them which might have been esteemed strange, or even oIdJcc-
tionable, in others.

The squatters of that period — generally new arrivals from home,
and young men who had brought with them more cash than
experience — were a good deal discussed by the townsfolk, and
more especially by the ladies, who, it struck me, had vague and
curious notions concerning them. As far as I could gather, the
prevailing notion seemed to be that the squatters’ habitat in all cases
was some fearfully remote and lonely locality which it would be
quite impossible for ordinary persons to reach; that without his
horse the squatter could not exist; that he wore habitually Hessian
boots and spurs, of which it was uncertain w^hether he ever divested
himself; that he was much given to emu and kangaroo hunting; had
constant encounters with hordes of blacks ; rode as a rule fifty miles
a day, chiefly at a gallop — a performance which seemed as necessary
to his horse as to himself — and at night slept anywhere, with his
saddle for a pillow. It was also surmised that some sense, peculiar
to the young squatter, enabled him to find his way in the most
unerring manner through trackless forests and waterless wastes;
that (when out of town) he lived solely on tea, mutton, and damper,
and enjoyed, when in the saddle, a perfect immunity from fatigue.
All this of course was mere surmise; what townspeople really did
know about the squatter was, that in town he was lavish in his
expenditure, affected tandem driving, had a decided penchant for
beer and brandy, smoked continually, and was not as a rule over-
punctual in his payments, or versed in the ways of merchants or
bankers. His peculiarities, however, real or imaginary, did not
survive the very early days of the colony; he was too lively a bird
for our forests, so that eventually, lawyers and courts of justice put
out many a shining light of those times. In the early days the young
men took to the bush and the neighing steed, as naturally as they
now become bank clerks, lawyers, and cricketers.

288 SELECT DvOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

G. Dangers and Hardships

20, AccMeifts. 1845 c*

(G. F. Jariies (Editor) : A Homestead History^ p. 89.)

I myself was suffeflng severely at one time from a most excru-
ciating, deep-seated whitlow on one of my fingers, and had to
suffer from it for a week before he [i.e. the doctor] could attend me;
but just before his arrival relief was afforded me by a friendly
chemist, a visitor for the night, who lanced the finger for me; but
a joint was lost through the delay. On another occasion I was
thrown from my horse about two miles from home and dislocated
an elbow and both wrists and sprained an ankle. In this state I
crawled home, where I lay for three days before the doctor could
reach me, but the dislocations were reduced in a few minutes when
he did come; but all cases were not of so urgent or painful a
character as these.

21, Lost. 1835 c.

(A. Harris: Settlers and Convicts^ p. 241.)

A vast many fatal adventures of this class occur in the colony.
Some time afterwards I heard of a new hand lost on Ivlanaroo
Plains merely through their monotonousness. He went with one
of the old hands to the plain to look for Bullocks, and getting out
of sight of the hut was found no more. Again, quite an old hand
was lost near the same place in a snow storm. The snow had
covered the road; he got off it, and could not find it again; but
when discovered he was only a few yards from it. The last case I
heard of was somewhere behind Bathurst. It was that of a bullock
driver going with his team from one bush station to another. It
appeared it was a very sultry day; and he left his mate and team
to go down a hollow, thinking it would lead to a creek and afford
him a' drink. It was nine days afterwards before he was found;
whether dead or alive I forget. But I have some faint recollection,
either in this case or some other, about the same part, of a man
being found after many days’ search lying dead across a large log,
with his legs eaten a'way by the native dogs.

22, The Aborigines Raid a Hut. 1846.

(Hobler MSS., Vol. IV.)

3rd Oct. 1846

Fox came up from Paika this afternoon to mention that this
morning shortly after he and Cooley left the hut five blacks burst
in the door of the hut, and took away all the clothes and bedding
they could find, and a bag of flour, after wasting a considerable

2C9

THE SqUATTERS

quantity they could not carry — fortunately upon their coming up
to the hut Mrs. Cooley had presence of mind to begin rin[gjing
the large bell I had slung in case of attack and the stockmen
being within hearing of it returned in time to pre\’ent i;hc blacks
doing other mischief as they decamped belpre the men arrived
— but for the alarm bell, no doubt the woman and her two children
would have been destroyed, this morning sent I'aafe back with
Fox to act as hutkeeper for the present, as the woman must not be
left alone any more.

23. The Myall Massacre. 1838.

(Ev. of G. Anderson. Quoted in R. Therry: Reminiscences of Thirty
Tears' Residence in JS'ew South Wales and Victoria, pp. 274-8.)

I am assigned servant to Mr. Dangar; I was at his station at Myall
Creek, as hutkeeper, for five months, in June, 1833. ]Mr. Hobbs
lives there as superintendent; he left home to go to the Big River
in the beginning of June; when he left there were some native
blacks there; I have said there were twenty, but I am sure there
was that number and upwards; I would not swear there were not
forty. While master was away some white men came on a Saturday
evening, about ten in number; I cannot say how many days after
master left; they came on horseback, armed with muskets, and
swords, and pistols; all were armed; I was at home when they came,
and the stock-keeper; I was sitting with Kilmeister, the stock-keeper,
in the hut; .... The blacks were ail encamped ready for the night;
they were not more than two yards from the hut; this was about
an hour and a half before sundown. There were plenty of women
and children amongst them. The blacks, when they saw the men
coming, ran into our hut, and the men then ail of them got off their
horses; and Russel had a rope, which was round a horse’s neck,
and he began to undo it whilst the blacks were in the hut. While
he was undoing it, I asked what they were going to do with the
blacks, and Russel said “We are going to take them over the back
of the range to frighten them.” Russell and some one or two went
in ... I heard the crying of the blacks for relief or assistance to me
and Kilmeister; they were moaning the same as a mother and
children would cry; there were small things that could not ^valk;
there were a good many small boys and girls. After they were tied,
I saw Russel bring the end of the rope out they were tied with,
and give it to one of the men on one of the horses, I cannot say
which. The party then went away with the blacks; the man who
took the rope from Russel went in front, and the others behind;
all the blacks were tied together, and this rope tied them all fast;
they were tied with their hands — one black fellow had on a pair
of handcuffs — they were all fastened with one rope; it was a tether-

290 SELECT Ej^OCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

rope for horses in a field; it was a very long rope; they brought out
the whole except two, that made their escape as the men were
coming up f they were two little boys, and they jumped into the
creek close by the hut; there was no water in it; they escaped at a
dry part. One blackr.gin (i.e. woman) they left with me in the hut;
they left her because she was good-looking; they said so; I forget
which. Another black gin they left that was with Davy, another
black fellow that was with me. There was a little child at the back
of th^ hut when they were tying this party; and when the blacks
and party were going away, this little child, as I thought, was
going to follow the party with its mother; but I took hold of it and
put it into the hut, and stopped it from going. I had two little boys,
the small child, two gins, and Davy and Billy; they all went away
except these; the children were going after their mothers. There was
an old man named Daddy, the oldest of the lot; he was called Old
Daddy; he was an old, big, tall man. This Daddy, and another old
man named Josey, they never tied along with the rest; they were
cr)dng, and did not want to go; they made no resistance. Some of
the children were not tied; others were; they followed the rest that
were tied. The small ones, two or three, were not able to walk;
the women carried them on their backs in opossum-skins. . . . They
were not in sight above a minute or so after they went away. About a
quarter of an hour, or tw^enty minutes at the outside, I heard the
report of two pistols, one after the other ; the reports came from the
same direction they went; the second was quite plain for any one
to hear; I only heard two; I did not hear anything else but those
two. It was just before sundowm. Next night after, the same men
came back to the hut where they took the blacks from; they were
all together of a lump, except Kilmeister, who was left behind. . . .
They slept all night. . . . Next morning three of them, after they had
breakfast, took firesticks out of the hut, Russel, Fleming, and
another . . . Kilmeister asked me for the leg-rope, and I gave it to
him, and they went in the same direction as they took the blacks,
and that I heard the two pieces. One of the men was left behind.

. . . During the time they were away I asked Foley if any of the
blacks had made their escape; he said none that he saw; he said
all w^ere killed except one black gin. Before the party came back,
Foley drew one of the swords out of the case and showed it to me;
it was all over blood, ... In about an hour the other men came back
to the hut. I saw smoke in the same direction they went; this was
soon after they went with the firesticks. . . . They got upon their
horses; and Fleming told Kilmeister to go up bye-and-bye and put
the logs of wood together, and be sure all was consumed. . . .

[Note: This witness, on a subsequent trial, stated he did not hear of any
complaints made by Kilmeister that the blacks had rushed their cattle.]

29!

THE SQ^UATTERS

24. Bushrangers. 1839.

(Letter of T. Ghirnside in T. F. Bride (Editor) : Letters from Victorian
Pioneers, p. 234.)

Besides the unfavourable seasons, the country was overfun with
bushrangers. Neither life nor property was safe,«iot even in villages.
When travelling with the mail, I found at every inn horsemen and
gigs waiting to accompany the mail for protection. I saw the corpse
at Gray’s inn of one who had been shot while in charge of a dray.
I saw another near Goulburn, and I was within a few mil* of
Gundaroo when Scotchie and Whitten’s party had possession of
that village; and as Mr. Hume [brother of Hamilton Hume,
discoverer of the Murray River] was going with his servants to the
assistance of the villagers he was shot dead, leaving a large family
to lament his loss. Scotchie and Whitten were at last captured;
the one hanged himself in gaol; the other was hanged in Goulburn.

25. A Drought in 1839.

(Letter of T. Ghirnside in T. F. Bride (Editor) : Letters from Victorian
Pioneers, p. 234.)

I arrived in Sydney . . . and was much disappointed with the
poor, barren appearance of the country. There had been a series
of unusually dry seasons; butcher’s meat being so poor, looked so
black and unwholesome that I could not touch it. No vegetables
to be had at any price. I started up the country to invest in sheep,
and on my way to the Murrumbidgee did not travel a single mile
without seeing dead horses and working bullocks. Hay or corn was
not to be had at the inns. I saw, upon stations where cattle w'ere
eager to get a little water, them crawl to a waterhole all but dried
up, and there get bogged, and leave their carcases where there were
hundreds of others. No one but an eye-witness can have any idea
of the state of New South Wales at that period.

26. A Drought in 1849.

(Hamilton to Glive, 8 March 1849. Gollaroy Papers.)

We are all in the greatest state of alarm about the dry weather
— we have had no rain to speak of for the last 1 2 mos. The water
holes are all drying up, and the feed is failing. Unless the windows
of heaven open this month we shall have a fearful winter. The
effect upon us will be this — that the autumn lambs which are now
dropping will not be worth picking up, and our fat sheep instead
of yielding the average of last year will not give 20 lbs of fat and
instead of being worth 8/- they will not realize 5/-. This is a terrible
prospect and so fearful am I of its realization that I watch the
weather — the sun at dawn and set and the moon till I go to bed
with intense anxiety.

292 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

27, Financial Depression. 1840-4,

(Hobier MSS,, VoL IV.)
i2thjune'l843

Bankruptcy is almost universal and confidence in mercantile
matters lost entirelf — I consider Dickson Dee and R. P. Cummins
the only 3 solvent men left in Maitland, and it would be difficult
to name three in the neighbourhood of the town of whom so much
may be said.

[Note in Margin] 1846 Cummins took to drinking and died
insolvent. The other two weathered the storm.

On the 3rd April I was obliged to file. my schedule and take the
benefit of the Insolvent act, I was arrested for my bill given to
release a friend from the same case a year before.

So valueless has property of all kind become that no monied
engagement can be met but at most dreadful sacrifices — sheep are
sold at 6d and 7d each stations given with them, horses £7 each
and cattle any price picked cows for dairy of good kinds 2 guineas
each fat cattle 50/- and hardly to be sold at this price, a company
has been started in Sydney for the purpose of salting beef for
exportation and is now putting about 25 per day away. Many
proprietors are also salting, and the establishment is now going,
boiling fat sheep for the fat, wethers are sold in Sydney for 3/-
to 5/ — the whole community seems horror struck and nothing
that can be now foreseen can avert general bankruptcy. . . .

Nov. 15—1843

Bankruptcy has now overtaken or is upon the heels of almost the
whole community. . . ,

1 Jan. 1844

Mr. Wentworth of Windermere has established a large boiling
concern to get rid of fat stock, it is sinking daily 200 sheep ... all
the large properties of sheep and cattle are getting down their
stock by this process — the destruction is immense.

28. Boiling Down. 1843 c.

(G, F. James (Editor): A Homestead History, pp. 98-9.)

PsVrE: This was, of course, not a hardship — except perhaps for those who
had to endure the smell and the sight! But it was one way of avoiding the worst
effects of the depression, as Hobier points out in the preceding document.]

Being in town at the time our ewes were going through the
melting pot, I took advantage of the opportunity to see something
of the process, which, as far as slaughtering ' and dressing was
concerned was not an exhilarating spectacle, in the case of our own
sheep especially, as many of the ewes were individually known to
us and had received particular names. The operation, like shearing,

293

THE SQ^UATTERS

being paid for by the hundred, was very rapidly performed, the
dressed appearance being of no importance whatever. The following
day, when the meat was set, they were quartered and dirown into
large wooden vats which, when full, had their manholes " securely
fastened down against the escape of steam which was then let in
from a boiler at a somewhat high pressure. After a certain time the
meat was completely disintegi'ated and all the fat dissoh’ed out.
The manholes were then opened for cooling down and the liquid
fat was drawn out through several taps at different heights; lower
taps w^ere opened in succession while the clear, white fat flowed
through them and until the gravy appeared, when the flow was
stopped; the residue was then emptied out through openings in
the bottom and put, minus the bones, into gunny bags and subjected
to screw pressure to get the last of the fat squeezed out, the gra\y
and fat being put into receptacles, with taps, to settle and have
the remaining fat drawm off.

The meat residue, void of all its fat, was then conveyed to adjoin-
ing yards, where, with the entrails, it formed a fine wallowing mess
for a herd of pigs which had no Board of Health to look after them,
and which with the whole of the operations of two or more estab-
lishments of the kind, diffused such an effluvia that was almost
overpowering at a half mile’s distance. Such was the process from
1842 to 1848 or ’50.

29* Losing a Run, 1848.

(Hobler MSS., Vol. V.)

March 1848

Mr. Stack stopped at Wentworths head station as he returned the
Monday from the post office and in conversation Mr. Christie the
Superintendent there told him that Wentworth had the Monday
tendered for the whole of my run at Paika, an ex prize-
fighter William Guise, and W. G. Wentworth, M.C. have with
several other dirty dogs Alderman Hood among the number,
under the opening made by the Home Govt in their foolishly
legislating for a country they know so little about — been placed
by their cupidity upon the same level by their meanly attempting
to possess themselves of my property and the fruits of my industry
and enterprise. Surely such a display will strongly influence the
Government here in protecting the interests of settlers like myself
— I will not give up my right under any circumstances that may
occur without an appeal to the Governor in person and if that is
ineffectual I will lay the whole affair before the public through the
newspapers, if I can do no more to cast shame upon all concerned —
but I can’t suppose so gross an injustice will be perpetrated and tho’

294 SELECT POGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

our case might be slurred over there are luckily a large number
circumstanced as I am with Paika.

[Xote: In the sequel Hobler, despite all his efforts, lost this run to Wentworth.
His comments on this are illuminating. See the entry for 15 May 1850 in Vol.
VII: “I may look upojgi myself as ruined by this gross injustice — reduced to
penury or nearly so.” See also his entry for 5 June 1850 in Vol. VII: “The rulers
of this country have ruined me according to law, and instead of redressing the
grievances express regret that it is so; what right have they to my respect . . . .
I question if any of the revolting Americans suffered more in their property
before they took arms in defence of self government ... a change of measures
alone ^vill prevent this country assuming independence as soon as strong
enough.”]

30. Gully Raking. 1835 c.

(A. Harris: Settlers and Convicts^ p. 261.)

This practice derives its name from the circumstance of cattle
straying away from their own herds into the bush, and forming
^vild herds which chiefly congregate down in the wild grassy gullies
of the mountains, where there are no farms; partly for the sake of
the grass itself, and partly for the sake of the fine water there; and
from their breeding there sometimes to a great extent, the gully-
rakers eventually driving them out and branding all the young"^ ones,
and any others they can manage, with their own brands.

H. The Grown Lands Commissioners

31. Their Duties aud How They Performed Them. 1836-50.

(E. j\L Gurr: Recollections of Squatting in Victoria^ pp. 116-22.)

[Note : The povvers of these Commissioners were defined in the Acts 4 Will.
IV\ No. 9 and 5 Will. IV. No. 6 of the Legislative Council of New South Wales,
and in the Act 5 \\ ill. IV, No. 21 entitled “An Act for appointing and empower-
ing commipioners to examine and report upon claims to grants of land, under
the Great Seal of the Colony of New South Wales”. Their powers were increased
by the amending Act of 1839, 2 Viet., No. 27, entitled “An Act further to restrain
the unauthorised occupation of Groum Lands, and to provide the means of
defraying the expence of a Border Police”. The Border Police were to help the
Commissioners to enforce their decisions. For other comments on their work
see S. H. Roberts: The Squatting Age in Australia, pp. 347-55.]

In a few moments I saw several horsemen, with a spring-cart in
their train, coming over the sand hill. The cortege turned out to be
that of the Commissioner of Grown Lands, who led the way on a
magnificent chestnut horse, followed by his orderly, a sergeant,
three troopers, and a man in charge of the cart.

^ This latter proved to be a native of Africa, who, as he came in
sight, sounded a call on the bugle, to the great edification of the
whole of us, white and black, who had turned out to witness the
approach of the cavalcade. This was the party which the blackfellow
had described as consisting of ^Towsan,” which, all the country

THE SQ^UATTERS 295

over, is the aboriginal English for any number over half-a-dozen.
The police were armed with carbines and pistols, the sergeant
carrying a cavalry sabre only. Their dress was the usual uniform of
their corps; and their horses, with the exception of tether-ropes
round their necks, were turned out in a decicFedly military way,
with inconvenient bits, peculiar saddle-cloths, awkward saddles,
and sore backs. The Commissioner’s horse was likewise accoutred
much in the manner of the charger of a cavalry officer, and his
dark green costume, fixed spurs, Hessian boots, blue cap with
braided band &c., were decidedly military in their effect, and might
easily have passed for the uniform of an officer of some regiment of
irregular mounted rifles. On dismounting, he threw the reins to his
orderly, and accepted my invitation to take up his quarters with
me for the night; his party proceeding to tether their horses and
pitch their camp under a shady tree on the river bank.

The duties of a Commissioner in those days were numerous and
varied. The most important of them had reference to the Crown
lands of his district, on which he issued licenses to squat. He also
settled disputes about boundaries. Disagreements on this score,
which in later times would have taken a judge, with his jurors,
barristers, witnesses, and attaches of the court, a week to dispose of,
— Bahl the Commissioner settled them in half-an-hour, or less;
sometimes probably hearing only one of the claimants, and some-
times neither. The Commissioner of the district in which I had
settled was not what one would call a bright man, but he did such
business off hand, his jurisdiction in the matter being possibly
summary in more senses than one. From what came under my own
observation, I should say that our particular Commissioner kept
few records of his official acts, if any; and never caused any marks to
be made on the trees or land in connection with the boundaries of
the runs. Indeed, I fancy he considered things of the sort mere
red tape nuisances; his custom in cases of disputes, as far a^ it
came under my notice, being to hear but short statements, give his
decision in few words, change the conversation, light his pipe and
ride away. This style of doing business, it is true, was called in
question, later on, by ill-disposed persons, and even spoken of in an
disparaging and jeering manner, and some, no doubt, suffered
inconveniences from it; but it used to be thought generally that,
though our Commissioner’s method did not secure accuracy, it
was well enough suited to the times, and so gave satisfaction; and
possibly it might have gone on giving satisfaction indefinitely,
had not malcontented individuals and busy-bodies got attorneys and
barristers to spy out little imperfections, make disturbances, and
bring into court matters which were never dealt with in expectation
of such proceedings in any way. But if our Commissioner’s rule did

296 SELECT ‘^DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

give a fair amount of satisfaction in the early days, it was mainly
owing to ^the confidence which the public had in the impartiality
and hopour of the gentlemen who filled the office. Besides, the
squatters, I think, generally held to the opinion that the Commiss-
ioner, whilst deciaedly more expeditious than juries, displayed
about the same appreciation of fact as those time-honoured
bodies, after counsel on both sides has been heard and their brains
pr^erly mystified with contradictory swearing.

In addition to such matters, it was also one of the functions of
the Commissioner to adjust the frequent differences which occurred
between the original lords of the soil and the Anglo-Saxon parvenus.
Now, though the reader may fancy that this was easily done, it was
not, in fact, without difficulties. Disturbances were constantly
occurring. Generally the first intimation the Commissioner got of
a case was a letter from a stock-owner complaining that after having
treated the Blacks with uniform kindness and consideration for a
length of time, they had suddenly killed one of his shepherds under
circumstances of peculiar atrocity, and roasted and eaten two
hundred of his flock. On the receipt of reports of this sort the
Commissioner proceeded, as soon as he was able, to the scene of
the outrage, where he heard the complaint repeated viva voce.
Strange to say, the Blacks habitually neglected to give their version
of the tale, though we know that they had constantly very serious
charges to advance against shepherds, in connection with their
conduct towards the females of the tribe. As the Blacks, therefore,
neglected to appear before the Commissioner in what might be
termed his judicial capacity, nothing was left for him as guardian
of the public peace but to appear before them, which he did at a
gallop, sabre in hand, surrounded by his troopers industriously
loading and discharging their carbines. . . .

But, besides duties of a composite judicial and military character,
the-Oommissioner had other functions. For instance, he determined
on the issue and renewal of licenses for bush public-houses in his
district, and had his say as to the rates chargeable at such places
for refreshments and fodder. If to the above we add that Commis-
sioners were a good deal about town, active on the subject of
Assembly balls, took an interest in club matters, mixed a good deal
in society, and were very constant in their attendance on the
Governor (or Superintendent, as he was styled), it will easily be
allowed that they did not eat the bread of idleness.

1. Costs and Profits

32- Tlie Costs of One Squatter. 1839.

(E. M. Curr: Recollections of Squatting in Victoria^ p. 36.)

As regards the wages current on the station^ they were as follows : —

THE SQ^UATTERS 297

Overseer, per annum £100 0 0

Three shepherds, at £1 per week each 156 0 0

One hutkeeper do do 52 0 U

Bullock driver do do 52 0 0

Overseer’s servant, per annum *^40 0 0

In addition, I also found that the following outlayVould be necessar}*:

A team of bullocks, with dray, &c £100 0 0

One mare (already purchased) 75 0 0

One horse 55 0 0

Twenty rams (those which had been on the run having been

destroyed for scab) 80 0 0

Rations for eight persons, flour being £60 a ton ; and tea,

and sugar, and tobacco at corresponding rates 200 0 0

Yearly license of run 10 0 0

Assessment on 2,100 sheep 8 15 0

Sheep washing, shears, wool packs, &c 12 0 0

Shearing 2,100 sheep 21 0 0

Dressing materials for scab and foot-rot 10 0 0

Expenses, travelling and unforseen 100 0 0

Total estimated expenditure for the year £1,071 15 0

33, The Profits of the Squatter. 1842 c.

(Ev. of M. H. March (a squatter) to the Select Committee on
Immigration, pp. 42-3. V.\and P, of the Legis. Conn, of N.S.W, 1842.)

I consider that under the best management, and the most favour-
able circumstances, the wool may be made to pay the annual
expenses, in which case the increase is the profit; and the difficulty
in answering this question, consists in estimating the value of such
increase, in a Colony where the price of sheep, owing to circum-
stances with which sheep farming has nothing to do, is frightfully
fluctuating. The only possible way in which the calculation can
be made, is by supposing that the sheep farmer will be able to sell
his increase at the same rate that he originally gave for his stock;
it is well known that sheep have been sold in this Colony within a
few years, at from to 3s. each, and although the average price,
and perhaps the real intrinsic value is from £\ 5s. to ^(^1 10s,, let
me first, for the purpose of this calculation, suppose the price of a
mixed quantity of sheep (the way in which they are almost always
sold,) to be ;^1 per head, and let me suppose that the sheep farmer

has —

15,000 sheep at £1 £15,000

Fixed capital, including buildings, working oxen, drays, horses,

&c., necessary for carrying on an establishment of 15,000

sheep 1,500

Floating capital, being an average of from thirteen to fifteen
months advance in wages, on articles purchased &c., before
the wool can be disposed of. 2,000

Total

£18,500

298 SELECT ^DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Out of IS^OOO mixed sheep^ about 7,000 will be breeding ewes, and
the increase from them, after deducting the decrease amongst the
whole i 5,^00, in consumption of mutton and deaths, may be put
at 70 p«r cent, or in round numbers, 5,000; but one-half of this
increase must be \^^thers, which being a necessary article of con-
sumption, and not the subject of speculation, are not liable to so
great a variation in price; reckoning the wethers at 10s., and the
ewes at the original price, £ 1 , gives ^^3,750 as the annual profit
on 18, 500 — that is to say, the sheep farmer, at the end of the first
year, can sell stock to the amount of ;;^3,750, and have the same
number left as he originally purchased. It will be suggested that if
the average of the sheep is ;^1, and of the wethers only lOs., the ewes
ought to be worth something more than ^^1 ; but when it is consid-
ered that the sheep farmer, to keep up the character of his original
stock, and if possible, to improve them, ought only to sell his oldest
and worst ewes, perhaps £\ is very little less than the value. Let me,
in the second place, put the price at 10s., which, on 15,000 sheep
is ;^7,500, and with fixed and floating capital as before 11,000,
which, with increase as before, and reckoning the wethers at 10s.
still, gives j£“2,500 profit on ^(^1 1,000. Let me, in the third place,
suppose that the original stock are purchased at 5s., that is, 15,000
sheep for ^(^3,250. and with fixed and floating capital as before,
;^6,750, increase as before 5,000, 1 will now reckon wethers as worth
only 7s. 6d. each, which gives the value of 2,500 ewes at 5s., and
2,500 wethers at 7s, 6d., 1,550 annual profit on an original invest-

ment of 3(^6, 750. In times of such very great monetary depression as
to allow sheep to sink to 10s. and 5s., it is true that the floating and
fixed capital required, will not be as great as at other times ; horses,
working oxen, &c., will be cheaper, and the price of labour will
be somewhat lessened, from the inability of others to employ it in
that wasteful and extravagant manner unfortunately too common
in this Colony, either in their own personal gratifications, or in
wild* speculation ; but at the same time, most of the great expenses
of a sheep establishment, such as taxes, ironmongery, tea, sugar,
&c., will not be materially altered. The profit on sheep farming,
after deducting 10 per cent, interest, is from 10 to 13 per cent,
per annum. These calculations are made without any reference to
the casualties of the diseases of sheep, so dreadful in their conse-
quences, and which even the best management cannot entirely
ward o& Many are only applicable to districts where the sheep
farmer can grow his own w’heat. The profit I have spoken of can
only be obtained by the very best of management; and, I think
I am within the mark in stating that it is not obtained in one case
out of twenty. It may perhaps be obtained with a very small number
of sheep as well as on a large scale, as although, in the latter case

THE SQ^UATTERS 299

jthe proportion of expenses is less, in the former iriscaiice the
squatter’s own personal labour and exertions will be proportionalh*
more. The calculations are also wholly inapplicable *10 a sheep
farmer who has net ample room on his runs; where he is in the
slightest degree hedged in and stinted at his stations, the difference
is incalculable, as under such circumstances his flocks cannot be
so large, and consequently his expenses will be greater; his sheep
cannot be in such goed condition, and consequent!}' his wool and
increase will be less; and in both instances to a degree of which no
one who has not seen the fatal effects of overstocking, can have the
slightest conception. I am convinced that the indigenous grasses,
with fair treatment, do not deteriorate in quantity and quality, but
when a run has once been overstocked, and the grasses pulled up
by the roots by the sheep, it is impossible to say how long it may be
before the country can recover, as in this climate where once
vegetation has been entirely stopped by trampling down, or other-
wise, it appears that an almost indefinite time is required before
grass will grow there again, when the ground is bare, and open
to the drought and the powerful action of the sun’s rays.

34. A Financial Success. 1843-57.

(G. F. James (Editor) : A Homestead History^ p. 168.j

I have a very large establishment now with the 8000 sheep
and 300 acres of cultivation. I have twenty- two hired servants,
besides the wives and families of some of the married ones. The
wages of these, including reapers and shearers, come to about £2000
a year, independent of their rations, which averages about two and
a half tons of sugar, eight chests of tea, eight tons of flour and five
hundred sheep per annum, of a value of about £800. gross
receipts for this year are about £6500 and the working expenses
about £3000. My last balance showed the value of all the property
I now possess to be about £20,000. 1 find from a careful examifiation
of accounts since I first arrived in the colony that I have doubled
my capital every two and a half years.

35. Another Success. 1839-51.

(E. M. Curr: Recollections of Squatting in Victoria^ pp. 449-50.)

Bearing in mind that my father’s sheep were of an inferior descrip-
tion from the first, that they never averaged quite two pounds and
a half of wool, that I was not allowed to take the necessar}^ steps
to improve them, that the prices of wool and wethers were low;
and then remembering that the £1500 so ill invested in Wolfscrag
and the £500 worth of sheep received from Steele’s Creek had been
producing, for several years before I left, a net income ranging from

300 SELECT l|OGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

1,000 to ;^2,500 a year, I think it will be admitted that the under-
taking was brought to a successful issue, especially when it is
remembered that, in addition to the thirty thousand sheep which
I left on the ground in 1851, the run secured was of first-class
quality as squatting^country, and capable, with the help of a few
tanks, of depasturing a hundred thousand sheep. Indeed, I believe
I was as successful as any sheep-farmer of those times.

fNciTE: A search for suitable documents to illustrate failures was fruitless.
It is perhaps understandable that the squatters should have been more reticent
about their failures than their successes. For an account of the chances of success
or failure see S. H. Roberts: The Squatting Age in Australia, pp. 375- 83.]

SOURCES USED FOR SECTION 6

A, Official Sources

1 . Report of the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the
State of the British Wool Trade. Sessional Papers of the House
of Lords 1828, Vol. V.

2. Reports of the Select Committees on Immigration. T. and
P, of the Legis. Coun. of JV.S.W. 1841 and 1842.

3. Sydney Gazette.

B. Other Primary Sources

1 . The Australian.

2. Bride, T. F. (Editor): Letters from Victorian Pioneers. 1898.

3. Collaroy Papers. (MSS. in Mitchell Library.)

4. Cunningham, P. : Pwo Tears in New South Wales. 2 vols.
3rd ed. 1828.

5. Curr, E. M. : Recollections of Squatting in Victoria : then called
* the Port Phillip District. 1 884.

6. Dumaresq Letters. (MSS. in Mitchell Library.)

7. Gardiner Manuscripts. (MSS. in Mitchell Library.)

8. Harris, A.: Settlers and Convicts. 1852.

9. Hogan Papers. (MSS. in Mitchell Library.)

10. Hobler Manuscripts. (MSS. in Mitchell Library.)

11. James, G. F. (Editor): A Homestead History. 1942.

12. Lang, J. D.: Cooksland in North-Eastern Australia. 1847.

13. Onslow, S. M. (Editor) : Some Early Records of the Macarthurs
of Camden. 1914.

14. Therry, R.: Reminiscences of Thirty Tears'" Residence in New
South Wales and Victoria. 1863.

Section 7

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

A. New South Wales, D. South Australia,

1787-1842. 1834-42.

B. Van Diemen’s Land, E. The Separation of Port

1803-42. PhilHp, 1840-50.

C. Western Australia, F. The Passing of the

1829-50. Australian Colonies

Government Act,
1844-50.

It is difficult to compress the documents which illustrate the
development of the constitutions of the Australian colonies
into less than a hundred pages, and do justice to the conflict of
groups, personalities and ideas. Where possible, references to
other material are given, and these should help to add flesh and
blood to the bare bones of this selection. Perhaps some explan-
ation of the division of the material is required. Up to 1842 the
constitutional history of the four colonies and the Port Phillip
district is given under separate headings, partly for convenience
and partly because their constitutions, and the demands made
for changes in those constitutions, differed so widely. From 1 842
to 1850, with the exception of Western Australia, there is a
community of interest and demand, which makes it possible to
group the agitation for change, and the discussion of Grey’s
proposals, under the one heading.

The section begins with a chronological summary of the
main events. »

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY, 1787-1850

1787. Act creating the criminal court in New South Wales.
27 Geo. III. C.2.

Warrant for charter of justice.

Commissions and Instructions to Phillip.

1814. Charter of Justice.

1819. General petition from New South Wales for redress of
grievances.

1821. An emancipist petition from New South Wales.

1823. Act for the administration of justice in New South Wales
and Van Diemen’s Land, 4 Geo, IV, c,96.

3Q2 SELECT* DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

1 825. Proclamation of the independence of Van Diemen’s Land.
1828. Act for the administration of justice in New South Wales
tand Van Diemen’s Land. 9 Geo. IV. c.83.

1830.* Act for the government of Western Australia. 10 Geo.
IV. c.22^

1832. Creation of a Legislative and an Executive Council in
Western Australia.

1834. Act creating the colony of South Australia. 4 & 5 Will.
• IV. C.95.

1835. Creation of the Australian Patriotic Association.

1836. Petitions by the Exclusives and the Emancipists.

1838. Act amending the South Australian constitution. 1 &‘2
Viet. C.60.

1840. First Petition from Port Phillip for separation.

1842. Act for the government of South Australia. 5 & 6
Viet. C.61.

Act for the government of New South Wales and Van
Diemen’s Land. 5 & 6 Viet. c.76.

1844. Report of the New South Wales Committee on General
Grievances.

Petition by six representatives of Port Phillip for
separation.

1847. Petition from Perth on transportation.

Grey’s first proposals for the government of the Australian
colonies.

1848. Grey’s second proposals.

1850. Australian Colonies Government Act. 13 & 14 Viet. c.59.

A. New South Wales, 1787-1842

1. The Act Creating the Criminal Court in New South Wales.

1787.

{KR,A. IV, 1, pp. 4-5.)

An Act to enable his Majesty to establish a Court of Criminal
Judicature on the Eastern Coast of New South Wales, and the
parts adjacent. 27 Geo. III. c.2. (1787.)

And whereas it may be found necessary that a colony and a civil
Government should be established in the place to which such
convicts shall be transported, under and by virtue of the Act of
Parliament, the said two several Orders of Council, and other the
said above-recited Orders, and that a Court of Criminal Jurisdiction
should also be established within such place as aforesaid, with
au*hoiity to proceed in a more summary way than is used within
this realm, according to the known and established laws thereof.

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 303

Be it therefore enacted by the King’s :Most Excellent Majesty,
by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spg'ituai and
Temporal and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled,
and by the authority of the same, that his Majesty mav, bv his
Commission under the Great Seal, authorise the 'person to be
appointed Governor, or the Lieutenant-Governor in the absence
of the Governor, at such place as aforesaid, to convene from time to
time, as occasion may require, a Court of Judicature for the trial
and punishment of ail such outrages and misbehaviours as, if
committed within this realm, would be deemed and taken, according
to the laws of this realm, to be treason or misprision thereof^
felony or misdemeanor, which Court shall consist of the Judge-
Advocate, to be appointed in and for such place, together with six
officers of his Majesty’s forces by sea or land:

Which court shall proceed to try such offenders by calling such
offenders respectively before that Court, and causing the charge
against him, her, or them respectively to be read over, which charge
shall always be reduced into writing, and shall be exhibited to the
said Court by the Judge- Advocate, and by examining witnesses
upon oath, to be administered by such Court, as well for as against
such offenders respectively, and afterwards adjudging by the opinion
of the major part of the persons composing such Court, that the
party accused is or is not (as the case shall appear to them) guilty
of the charge, and by pronouncing judgment therein (as upon a
conviction by verdict) of death, if the offence be capital, or of such
corporal punishment not extending to capital punishment, as to the
said Court shall seem meet : and in cases not capital, by pronouncing
judgment of such corporal punishment, not extending to life or
1 mb, as to the said Court shall seem meet.

11. And be it further enacted that the Provost-Marshal, or other
officer to be for that purpose appointed by such Governor or
Lieutenant-Governor, shall cause due execution of such judgment
to be had and made under and according to the warrant of such
Governor or Lieutenant-Governor in the absence of the Governor,
under his hand and seal, and not otherwise.

Provided always that exe ution shall not be had or done on any
capital convict or convicts unless five persons present in such Court
shall concur in adjudging him, her, or them, so accused and tried
as aforesaid, to be respectively guilty, and until the proceedings
shall have been transmitt d to his Majesty and by him approved.

2. The Court of C'vil Jurisdiction. 1787.

iH.RA,, IV, 1, pp. 6-7.)

Whereas, by virtue of An Act of parliament, passed in the Twenty
Fourth Year of the Reign, Wee have judged fit, by and with the

304 SELECTl^DOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

advice of Our Privy Council, by two several Orders, bearing date
respectively on the sixth day of December, one thousand, seven
hundred ^nd eighty six, to declare and appoint the place to which
certain ^Offenders should be transported for the time or Terms in
their several Sentefices mentioned, to be the Eastern Coast of New
South Wales, or some one or other of the Islands adjacent. And
Whereas Wee find it Necessary that a Colony and Civil Government
should be Established in the place, to which such Convicts shall be
transported, and that sufficient Provision should be made for the
Recovery of Debts, and for determining of private Causes between
party and party in the place aforesaid. Wee, taking the same into
our Royal Consideration and being desirous that Justice may be
Administered to all our Subjects, have, of Our especial Grace,
certain Knowledge and mere Motion, thought fit to grant, ordain,
direct and appoint, and by these presents Do, for Us our Heirs and
Successors, Will, Grant, Ordain, Direct and appoint that there
shall be within the place aforesaid a Court to be called the Court
of Cml Jurisdiction; and that such Court shall consist of the
Judge Advocate for the time being, together with two fit and
proper persons. Inhabiting the said place, to be appointed from
time to time by our Governor or, in Case of his Death or Absence,
by Our Lieutenant-Governor for the time being, or of any two of
them (whereof the Judge Advocate to be one) ; to which Court,
Wee do hereby give full power and Authority to hold plea of,
and to hear and determine in a Summary way all pleas, concerning
Lands, Houses, Tenements and Hereditaments, and all manner
of interests therein, and all pleas of Debt, Account or other Contracts,
Trespasses, and all manner of other personal pleas whatsoever.
And Wee do further Will, Ordain and Grant to the Said Court
full power and Authority to Grant probates of Wills and Admin-
istration of the personal Estates of Intestates dying within the
pia^e or Settlement aforesaid. And Our further Will and pleasure
is and Wee do, by these presents, for Us, our Heirs and Successors,
Direct, Ordain and Appoint that, upon Complaint to be made in
writing to the said Court by any person or persons against any
other person or persons residing or being within said place, of any
Cause or Suit, The said Court shall or may Issue a Warrant in
Writing under the Hand and Seal of the said Judge Advocate for
the time being to be directed to the provost Marshall, or such other
Officer as shall be appointed by Our Governor, to Execute the
process thereof. . . .

[Note: For the changes in the composition and the functon of the law courts
of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land see:

1. The Charter of Justice, 1814, Printed in H,R.A. IV, 1, pp. 77-94.

2. The Act for the better administration of justice in New South Wales and
Van Diemen’s Land, 4 Geo. IV. c. 96, ss. I-XX.

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 305

3. The Act to provide for the administration of justice in Xew South Wales
9 Geo. IV. c. 83, ss. I-VIII.

4. For details on the introduction of trial by jury see the note at the end of

Document No. 1 7 of this section.] ’ »

3. Tlie Powers of the Governor. t

(Phillip’s Second Commission. H.R.A. I, i, pp. 2-*8.)

[Note: See also the text of Phillip’s First Commission in Section 2, B, 8 of
this volume; and, for the Instructions to Phillip, see H.R.A. I, 1, pp, 9-16. For
a comment on the organization of the Government and the powers of the Governor
see A. G. V. Melbourne: Early Constitutional Development in Australia, Pt. L Chs.
2 and 3.]

And Wee do hereby require and command you to do and execute
ail things in due manner that shall belong to your said command
and trust Wee have reposed in you according to the several powers
and directions granted or appointed you by this present Commission
and the instructions and authorities herewith given to \^ou or by
such further powers instructions and authorities as shall at anv
time hereafter be granted or appointed to you under our signet and
sign manual or by our order in our Privy Council. . . .

[Here follows a list of the various oaths and declarations of
loyalty, to be taken and signed first by Governor Phillip in the
presence of the Judge- Advocate, and then to be administered by the
Governor to the Judge- Advocate and the Lieutenant-Governor —
including the oaths against the Stuarts, and the Popish Recusants 1]

And Wee do hereby authorize and empower you to constitute
and appoint justices of the peace coroners constables and other
necessary officers and ministers in our said territory and its depen-
dencies for the better administration of justice and putting the law
into execution and to administer or cause to be administered unto
them such oath or oaths as are usually given for the execution
and performance of offices and places.

And Wee do hereby give and grant unto you full powei;^ and
authority where you shall see cause or shall judge any offender or
offenders in criminal matters or for any fine or fines or forfeitures
due unto us fit objects of our mercy to pardon all such offenders
and to remit all such offences fines and forfeitures treason and
wilful murder only excepted in which cases you shall likewise have
power upon extraordinary occasions to grant reprieves to the
offenders untill and to the intent our royal pleasure may be known
therein. . . .

And Wee do hereby give and grant unto you the said Arthur
Phillip by yourself or by your captains or commanders by you to
be authorized full power and authority to levy arm muster and
command and employ all persons whatsoever residing within our
said territory and its dependencies under your government and as

306 SELECT DOCUMENTS TN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

occasion shall sA've to march from one place to another or to
embark them for the resisting and withstanding of all enemies
pirates and rebels both at sea and land and such enemies pirates
and rebels *if there shall be occasion to pursue and prosecute in or
out of tlie limits of our said territory and its dependencies and (if
it shall so please Gdd) them to vanquish apprehend and take and
being so taken according to law to put to death or keep and preserve
alive at your discretion.

And to execute martial law in time of invasion or other times
whefi by law it may be executed and to do and execute all and
every other thing and things which to our Captain- General and
Governor-in-Chief doth or ought of right to belong. . . .

[The Governor is to exercise sovereign naval powers to appoint and
control officers of ships etc., and administer punishment for offences
by naval personnel, except when such person is in actual service of
and acting by immediate commission of the British Admiralty.]

Our will and pleasure is that all public monies which shall be
raised be issued out by warrant from you and disposed of by you
for the support of the Government or for such other purpose as shall
be particularly directed and not otherwise. . . .

And Wee do hereby give you the said Arthur Phillip full power to
appoint fairs marts and markets as also such and so many ports
harbours bays havens and other places for conveniency and
security of shipping and for the better loading and unloading of
goods and merchandizes as by you shall be thought fit and necessary.

4. A Case for Limiting the Powers of the Governor, 1810 c.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, p. 8. P.P. 1812,
II, 341.)

[Note: For other opinions on this subject see the evidence of R, Jones to the
Committee on the State of the Gaols, p. 145, P.P. 1819, VII, 575. See also
evidence of J. H. Bent to the same Committee, pp. 127-8. See also Forbes to
Hay, H,R.A. IV, 1, p. 481, and J. T. Bigge: Judicial Establishments, p. 76.
For a decent comment see M. H. Ellis: Lachlan Macquarie^ pp. 226-7.]

He is made Governor and Captain General, with the most
enlarged powers, uncontrouled by any Council, with authority to
pardon all offences (treason and murder excepted), to impose
duties, to grant lands, and to issue colonial regulations. It is in
evidence from Governor Bligh, that to the breach of some of these
regulations, issued at the sole will of the Governor, a punishment
of 500 lashes is annexed, and to others a fine of 100. The manner
in which these extensive powers have been used, has not always been
such as to give satisfaction to the Colony; nor can it be expected
that where so much authority and responsibility are thrown into the
hands of one man, that his will however just, and his administration
however wise, will not at times create opposition and discontent

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 3(17

amongst men unused, in their own country, to see so great a
monopoly of power. Under this impression, Your Gommitte^e think
it right to recommend, that a Council be given to the €overnor,
for the purpose of sharing with him in the responsibilit) of the
measures which they may think necessar)^ f^r the security or
prosperity of the Colony. It may perhaps be doubted how lar it
will be wise to limit the authority of the Governor over a colon\*
in which, more than any other, the Government ought to be strong
and unfettered; but the views of Your Committee would to some
degree be obtained, even though the Council appointed had no
other power than that of protesting against any measures of the
Governor of which they might disapprove; and of transmitting
their protests to the Secretary of State. The acquiescence of the
Council would give popularity to the measures of which it approved,
and its expressed disapprobation might have the effect of checking-
such as were evidently inexpedient.

5. An Opinion on the Work of the Criminal Court in N.S.W,
1788-1810.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, p. 7. P,P, 1819
II, 341.)

Your Committee have to observe, that all the evidence examined
on the subject, unequivocally condemns the manner in which the
Criminal Courts are thus established. Governor Bligh having-
stated that they consisted principally of Military Officers, proceeds
— ‘Tt did not give satisfaction to the inhabitants, — they were
particularly desirous that they might not be so much in the power
of the Military, but might have some kind of justice that might
bring them nearer to their brethren in Great Britain.’’ He also
states that there were settlers sufficient in character and numbers
to furnish juries; and thinks their decisions would have been fairer
than those that took place without them. Similar to hi?, are, the
opinions of Governor Hunter, Mr. Palmer, and Mr. Campbell,
and upon their evidence Your Committee are of opinion, that the
manner of administering criminal justice may be altered with great
advantage to the Colony. It is not to be expected that its inhabitants
should view, otherwise than with jealousy and discontent, a system
which resembles rather a Court Martial than the mode of trial the
advantages of which they have been accustomed to see and to
enjoy in their own Country. However necessary it may have been,
at the first foundation of the Settlement, thus to constitute the
Courts, as well from the default of other members as from the
refractory habits of the persons then composing the Colony; that
necessity has now ceased to exist; a numerous class of respectable
persons u now formed within the Settlement, amply sufficient to-

308 SELECT «^pOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

warrant the establishment of that trial by jury, for which they are
anxiously mshing.

6. The Secretary of State on a Legislative Council and Trial

by Jury, 1812. #

(Bathurst to Macquarie, 23 November 1812. H.R,A. I, 7, loc. cit.)

To the recommendation which the Committee [i.e. the Select
Committee on Transportation, 1812] have made of Assisting the
Gov*ernor by a Council, His Majesty’s Government feel no dispos-
ition to accede. The difficulty of selecting proper persons for the
Situation of Members of the Council, the dissensions and disputes
to which their opposition to the Governor, or their protest against
his conduct, must give rise; the parties which would thence arise
in the Colony, the length of time during which the public tranquility
would be interrupted before a Communication could be received
from home; the danger of weakening the higher authorities in a
Society composed of such discordant materials, are all causes which
have more or less influenced the determination of His Majesty’s
Government to leave the Governor unfettered by a Council (p. 675).

It is however a Question, worthy of consideration, how far in
criminal cases the Trial by Jury may not be advantageously
introduced. It is not necessary to dilate on the beneficial effects
to be derived by that System of dispensing Justice, but before it is
adopted in New South Wales it is very necessary gravely to consider
how far the peculiar constitution of that Society of men will allow
the application of [this distinguished feature of] the British Constit-
ution. Are there settlers in number Sufficient, capable and willing,
to undertake the duties ? In a Society so restricted, is there not reason
to apprehend that they may unavoidably bring with them passions
and prejudices which will ill dispose them to discharge the functions
of Jurymen? The great principal of that excellent Institution is
that#men should be tried by their Peers. Would that principal
be fairly acted upon, if Free Settlers were to sit in Judgement on
Convicts, and that too in cases where Free Settlers might be a
Party? Would it be prudent to allow Convicts to act as Jurymen?
Would their admission satisfy free Settlers? Would not their
exclusion, &c., be , . . at variance with the great Principle upon
which the institution itself is founded ? (p. 674) .

7. Tbe Case for tbe Emancipist. 1819.

(W. G. Wentworth: A Statistical^ Historical and Political Description
of New South Wales, pp, 348-51.)

The covert aim of these men is to convert the ignominy of the
great body of the people into an hereditary deformity. They would
hand it down from father to son, and raise an eternal barrier of

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORiy 309

separation between their offspring and the offspring of the unfort-
unate convict. They would establish distinctions which may serve
hereafter to divide the colonists into castes; and although^ione among
them dares publicly avow that future generations should be punished
for the crimes of their progenitors, yet sisch are their private
sentiments; and they would have the present race branded with
disqualifications, not more for the sake of pampering their own
vanity, than with a view to reflect disgrace on the offspring of the
disfranchised parent, and thus cast on their own childreji and
descendants that future splendor and importance, which they
consider to be their present peculiar and distinguishing character-
istics. Short-sighted fools! they forsee not the consequences of their
narrow machinations 1 They know not that they would be sowing the
seeds of future discords and commotions, and that by exalting
their immediate descendants, they would occasion the eventual
degradation and overthrow of their posterity. Such would be the
result of their ambition; for it is the curse of' injustice that it brings
with it sooner or later its own punishment. . . . Shall they in the
short space of thirty years forget the benevolent designs for which
this colony was founded, and convert what was intended as an
asylum for repentant vice, not into a house merely of salutary
correction, which may moderate with reviving morality and cease
entirely with complete reformation, but into a prison of endless
torture, where though the sufferings of the body may terminate,
the worst species of torture the endurements and mortifications of
the soul, are to end only with existence? Shall a vile faction be
allowed to inflict on the unfortunate convict a punishment infinitely
greater than that to which he has been sentenced by the violated
majesty of the law? Has not a jury of impartial freemen solemnly
investigated the case of every individual who has been transported
to this colony? And have not the measure and duration of their
punishments been apportioned to their respective offences? Is it
then for any body of men to assert that the law has been too lenient,
and that it is necessary to inflict an ulterior punishment which shall
have no termination but in the grave? Shall the unhappy culprit,
exiled from his native shore, and severed perhaps for ever from the
friends of his youth, the objects of his first and best affections, after
years of suffering and atonement, still find no resting place, — no
spot where he may hide his shame and endeavour to forget his
errors? Shall the finger of scorn and derision be pointed at him
wherever he betake himself? And must he for ever wander a recreant
and outcast on the face of the earth, seeking in vain some friendly
shore, where he may at length be freed from ignominious disabilities,
and restored to the long lost enjoyment of equal rights and equal
protection with his fellows ?

.310 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

8. Macquarie on Ms Policy for Emancipists. 1820.

(Macquarie to Bathurst, 22 February 1820. H.RA. I, 10, pp. 217-8.)

It must nefer be forgot that this is, at present, a Convict Country,
Originally ’established for their punishment and Reformation; that
at least Nine-tenths €>f its present Population Consist either of
Convicts, Persons who have been Convicts, or the Offspring of
Convicts; and that the principal part of the property in the Colony
at this day is possessed by the two latter Classes. Consequently some
Consideration appears to be justly due to so very large a Portion of
the Population of the Country.

[Note : The rest of Macquarie’s statement is taken from Macquarie to Bigge,
6 November 1819, Enc. No. 3 in Macquarie to Bathurst, 22 February 1820,
H,RA, I, 10, pp. 223-4.]

You already know that above Nine- tenths of the Population of
this Colony are or have been Convicts, or the Children of Convicts.
You have Yet perhaps to learn that these are the people who have
Quietly submitted to the Laws and Regulations of the Colony, altho’
informed by the Free Settlers and some of the Officers of Government
that they were Illegal! these are the Men who have tilled the
Ground, who have built Houses and Ships, who have made wonder-
ful Efforts, Considering the Disadvantages under which they have
Acted, in Agriculture, in Maritime Speculations, and in Manu-
factures ; these are the Men who, placed in the balance as Character,
both Moral and Political (at least since their Arrival here) in the
opposite Scale to those Free Settlers (who Struggle for their
Depression) whom you will find to preponderate.

[Note: For the opinion of the Secretary of State on Macquarie’s decision to
appoint Redfem as a Magistrate see Bathurst to Macquarie, 10 July 1820,
H.RA. I, 10, pp. 310-11.]

9. Another Justification by Macquarie of his Emancipist
Policy. 1822.

(Copy 5f a Report by the late Major General Macquarie, on the
Colony of New South Wales, to Earl Bathurst, 27 July 1822, p. 3.
P.P. 1828, XXI, 477.)

Finding on my arrival many persons free, who had come out
originally as convicts, and sustaining unblemished characters
since their emancipation, but treated with rudeness, contumely,
and even oppression, as far as circumstances permitted, by those
who had come out free, and viewed with illiberal jealousy the
honest endeavours of the others to attain and support a respectable
station in society, I determined to counteract this envious disposition
in one class, by admitting, in my demeanour and occasional marks
of favour to both, no distinction where their merits, pretensions
and capacities were equal. I considered this as the first step towards

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

311

a general reformation of the manners and habits of the motley part
of the population of New South Wales as it then existed; and I am
happy to add that twelve years of experience of its effects has fully
justified my most sanguine expectations.

[Note: For a more detailed defence of his j^jolicy, and a reply to Bigge’s
criticisms of it, see extracts of a letter from Major GencTal Macc{uarie addressed
to Earl Bathurst, 10 October 1823, P.P. 1828, XXI, 477J .

10. A Petition for the Redress of Grievances. 1819.

(Enc. in Macquarie to Bathurst, 22 March 1819. 10,

pp. 55-65.)

The Humble Petition of the Gentlemen, Clergy, Settlers,
Merchants, Land-Holders and other free Inhabitants of His
Majesty’s Territory of New South Wales, in a general IMeeting
duly assembled.

To His Royal Highness the Prince Regent in Council.

Most humbly Sheweth,

That your Petitioners, hitherto unaccustomed to approach the
Throne, are now induced to exercise that invaluable priviledge
for the purpose of most humbly laying befoi'e Your Royal Highness
a Statement of the restrictions, disabilities and inconveniences under
which His Majesty’s Colony labours, respecting the several matters
herein after stated, matters of the most vita consequence to its
interests and prosperity. THAT the population of this Territory
consists of upwards of 25,000 Souls, English, Scotch, and Irish-born
Subjects of His Majesty and their Children, the greater part
of whom, in the proportion of five sevenths, are free Settlers,^
Merchants, Land and House-holders. THAT on the Settlement of
this Colony in the year 1788, a Court of Criminal Judicature was
established by His Majesty’s Letters Patent, a cursory review of the
Constitution of which Court clearly shews that it could be intended
only for a very small Community, and a state of society very much
confined ; but your Petitioners most humbly shew, that that ^ate of
society has long since past away, that the free and respectable
Population is numerous, intelligent, and, as to Horned Cattle, Sheep
and Land in cultivation, comparatively wealthy; that their habits,
customs, and feelings are entirely British; that there is very little or no
admixture of foreign Inhabitants, Manners, or Customs among
them, and yet the Court of Criminal Jurisdiction has undergone no
alteration since its establishment at the very infancy of the
Colony. . . .

[It is] a Court in its formation and proceedings, contrary to all our
habits, feelings, and opinions as Englishmen, a Court unknown in
our Mother Country, a Tribunal from a review of whose formation
We most humbly beg leave to state to Your Royal Highness, we do

312 SELECT Di)CUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

not consider our lives and our liberties can be so well secured, as
those of British Subjects should be, nor can the Laws of our Country
be adminisCsred with sufficient purity and impartiality. And
humbly sllew^ that there are now resident in this Colony, a great
number of free respectable Inhabitants sufficient and perfectly
competent for Jurymen; Men, by whose Property, Exertions and
Labour the Country has been cleared and cultivated, Towns built,
and a thriving Colony (notwithstanding the many disabilities it
labours under) reared up and established. . . .

[On pp. 56-7 the petition continues with the plea for trial by jury.
On pp. 58-64 the petitioners state their other disabilities — the
problem of a market for agricultural produce; the distillation of
spirits; the restrictions on shipping between the colony and Great
Britain ; the duties on products of fishing in south seas ; the duty on
wool and other products.]

Your Petitioners having thus most humbly approached Your
Royal Highness with a statement of the Disabilities, restraints and
inconveniences under which the Inhabitants of this His Majesty’s
peculiarly British rising Colony labours with regard to the insuffic-
iency of its Jurisprudence, the obstructions to its Agriculture, the
impediments to its Navigation with our Mother Country,
the operation of the Duties applying to its productions imported to
England, as well as of those Colonial Duties imposed on its Exports
here, they do most humbly trust that Your Royal Highness will
lend a gracious Ear to their Complaints, and, of your Royal
Clemency, direct that His Majesty’s Colony may be put on the
same footing with His Majesty’s other Colonies, as regards the
several matters herein before humbly set forth. . . .

[Note: 1. In 1819 the British Parliament passed an Act to permit vessels
of any tonnage to trade between New South Wales and Great Britain. For an
account of this Act see H.R.A. I, 10, p. 196. In 1822 the British Parliament
passed an Act to reduce duties, and to suspend the duty on wool. For this see
H.R,A, i, 10, pp. 792-3.

2. For another account of these disabilities see W. C. Wentworth: A
Statistical, Historical, and Political Description of the Colony of Hew South Wales and its
dependent settlements in Van Diemen's Land, pp. 288-316.]

11. The Emancipists ask for Abolition of tbeir Disabilities.

1821.

(Enc, in Macquarie to Bathurst, 22 November 1821. H.R.A. I, 10,
pp. 549-56.)

[Note: Macquarie approved of their requests: “From my own Personal
local Knowledge and long Experience in the Colony, I can safely assert that
all the matters Stated in this Petition are strictly true, and can easily be proved
to be so. That the Emancipated Colonists do labour under certain disabilities
and disqualifications, highly prejudicial to their Interests, must be allowed on
all hands. Not only their own dearest Rights and Privileges, but also those of
their Descendants, are deeply involved in the removal of these disqualifications ;

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY. 313

and feeling, as I do, most warmly interested in the future happiness and pros-
perity of these People, I respectfully take the liberty of strongly recommending
the Prayer of their Petition to Your Lordship’s Humane 'and favourable
Consideration for moving His Majesty to afford them such relief M their peculiar
Case may be found to be susceptible of.” (Ivlacquarie to Bathurst? 2‘> October
1821, H.R.A. L 10, p. 549.)]

THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE ElMANGIPATED
COLONISTS OF THE TERRITORY OF NEW SOUTH
WALES AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.

To the King’s most Excellent IMajesty.

Most humbly sheweth,

[In the first part of their petition -the emancipists state their
claim to consideration, because of their numbers, the value of their
past labour, and their wealth. Then they summarize the judgment
in the case of Eagar v. Field, and Eagar v. Prosper de Mestre.
They then proceed to indicate the effects of these decisions.]

Yet that your Petitioners, retrospectively and prospectively,
are to be considered as Convicts attaint, without personal Liberty,
without Property, without Character or Credit, without any one
Right or Priviledge belonging to free Subjects; And are now, after
thirty Years of good Conduct and Industry, whereby they have
attained to Wealth, Character and Rank in Society, to be thrown
back at once and for ever to that state of degradation from which
they have by worthy Conduct, they hope, not undeservedly arisen ;
And for this one single reason that the names of Your Petitioners
have not been inserted in any General Pardon under the Great
Seal of England, without which Ceremony the Courts of Civil
Judicature in this Territory have, as aforesaid, adjudged that the
Instruments of remission granted by. the Governors of this Colony
are of no force, effect or Validity whatever; whereas your Petitioners
most humbly submit unto Your Majesty that the insertion of their
Names respectively in any General Pardon under the Great Seal
of England is a circumstance in which your Petitioners have no
Controul or interference whatever, nor does it lie upon or with
them to have the same performed; for, on the contrary, that
Ceremony by the Act of Parliament is directed to be performed by
one of Your Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State. . . , And your
Petitioners further most humbly represent unto your Majesty that
these decisions of the Courts of Justice in this Colony will have the
effect of introducing and perpetuating party distinctions, unpleasant
discussions, irritable feelings and Jealousies, heats, Animosities and
diversions, between Your Majesty’s free Subjects in these Territories,
not only of the present Generations but for Generations to come;
Will entirely take away all Encouragement, incentive and Stimulus
to good Conduct and reformation of manners, for how can these

3i4 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

good consequences be expected where all hope of reward is with-
drawn; Will almost entirely destroy the Spirit of Industry, for
Industry callnot flourish where there is no Security for the enjoyment
of its fruits. As well as the confidence and Credit that ought to
exist between Man aiid Man, for the foundation of all Confidence
and Credit, namely the Security of Property, Will be thereby taken
away, and the sure result of these fatal consequences will be most
irretrievably to endanger, if not totally annihilate, the Agriculture
and Gommerce of the Colony, and so destroy possibly for ever the
Labour and Fruits of Thirty Years of Laborious Industry, and
throw back these Your Majesty^s Territories, upon which so much
of the Public Money has b‘een expended, and which is now in the
Progress of fully Answering the purposes for which it was established,
to that State of immorality, Poverty and Distress, which prevailed
during the eaidy period of its establishment, and from which it has
emerged solely through the beneficial operation and influence of that
System of humane and benevolent Policy, by which it was founded
and has been hitherto Governed. Your Petitioners do therefore with

the most profound humility approach Your Majesty, and, in
confident reliance on your Majesty’s royal Grace and Clemency,
Most Humbly pray that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to
take, into your royal Consideration, the Condition in which we
your Majesty’s Petitioners are placed in by this State of the Law,
as interpreted and acted upon by the Courts of Civil Judicature in
this Territory, and afford your Petitioners such relief as our
Situation and Circumstances in Your Majesty’s Royal Wisdom shall

seem to deserve.

WM. REDFERN, Chairman, &c.

[56 signatures]

[Note: The legal disabilities referred to in this petition were removed by
s. XXXIV of the Act to provide for the better administration of justice in New
South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, 4 Geo. IV. c. 96. This section provided
that all instruments whereby the Governors have remitted the term of trans-
portation were to have the same effect as Pardons under the Great Seal.]

12. The Legislative Power of the Governors. 1788-1823.

(Memorandum by James Stephen. H.R.A, IV, 1, pp. 413-5.)

[Note: This memorandum was prepared because a Mr Burn brought an
action against a Magistrate before the Governor’s Court. One of the issues in
this action was whether the Governor had the power to legislate. For the details
of this case see ibid,, pp. 414-15.]

The question respecting the validity of the Governor’s Proclam-
ation is more important than the former, in proportion as the
consequences involved in it will be the more extensive. In support
of the right of legislation thus asserted by the Governor, it is argued
that the constitution of the Colonies depends upon the Commissions
issued by the King to the Governors, and upon the Instructions

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY^t 315

accompanying them; that the King has in many cases delegated
to the Governors of Colonies the power of making local Ordinances,
not repugnant to the laws of England, and that what bus been done
in other cases may legally be repeated in that of New South Wales,

To these arguments, it is answered that, according to the first
principles of the Constitution, the King cannot'make laws binding
on his subjects, except with the consent of Parliament; that the
only exceptions to this rule are, first, the case of foreign Settlements
acquired by His Majesty’s Arms, where he excercised a legislative
power as conqueror, and Secondly the case of Settlements ceded
to the Crown, in which, at the time of the Cession, there existed a
lex loci adapted to the habits and wants of civilized Society, in
which case, it is said, the King succeeds to the legislative rights,
whatever they may have been, of the former Sovereign. It is denied,
however, that New South Wales falls within either of these excep-
tions, Since that colony was acquired neither by conquest nor
cession, but by the mere occupation of a desert or uninhabited land.
It is insisted that His Majesty’s subjects settling in a country thus
acquired, carry with them the Law of England, so far as it is
adapted to their peculiar circumstances; that the invariable usage
in all such cases has been to require the Governor to convene an
Assembly elected by the freeholders within the Colony; that thus
the Colonists have lived under the constitution of England, varied
only, so as to meet the new circumstances in which they have been
placed; and that for His Majesty to confer a legislative power on the
Governor alone, and without the controul of a local Assembly,
would be to deprive the Colonists of the constitution and laws
which, it is admitted, they are to carry with them.

To the best of my judgment, this reasoning is well founded ; and
supposing the present question confined to the single point, whether
the Governor of New South Wales has or has not the power to make
laws binding on the King’s subjects within that Settlement, I should
venture to express my opinion that in general he has no such
authority.

13. Is New South Wales a Penal Colony? 1817.

(Bathurst to Sidmouth, 23 April, 1817. Note 5 in I, 10,

pp. 807-8.)

I have for some time past had under consideration the present
State of the Settlements in New South Wales, principally with a view
of satisfying myself whether they are now calculated to answer the
object, for which they were originally established, or whether it
might not be expedient to introduce some alteration in the existing
system.

Until a recent period the Transportation of Offenders to New

316 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

South ’Wales appears to have answered in a very great degree the
ends, for the Attainment of which it was adopted. The many
instances of^persons re toning from Transportation and becoming
afterwards useful Members of Society here, and the far more
numerous Cases in ^vhich Convicts, after the expiration of their
Sentences, became industrious Settlers in the Colony, are sufficient
to prove the Efficacy of the System in its Infancy, as far at least as
regarded the Improvement and Reform of the Offenders. So long
as th^ Colony was principally inhabited by Convicts and but little
advanced in Cultivation, the strictness of the Police Regulations,
and the Constant Labour under due restriction, to which it was
then possible to subject the Convicts, rendered Transportation as a
punishment the object of the greatest Apprehension to those who
looked upon strict Discipline and Regular Labour as the most
severe and the least tolerable of Evils.

It was not long however before the Settlements were found to hold
out to many Individuals inducements to become cultivators, and
thirty Years’ experience of the Climate and Fertility of the Soil has
for some time past rendered a permission to settle in New South
Wales and object of anxious solicitude to all, who were desirous of
leaving their Native Country and had capital to apply to the
Improvement of Land. This System together with the Number of
Convicts, who after the Expiration of their Sentences remain with
their respective Families growing up under them, has so increased
the population of Free Settlers that the prosperity of the Settlement
as a Colony has proportionably advanced, and hopes may reason-
ably be entertained of its becoming perhaps at no distant period a
valuable possession of the Crown. It is this very circumstance which
appears to me to render it less fit for the object of its original
Institution. The Settlers feel a Repugnance to submit to the
Enforcement of regulations which, necessarily partaking much of
the Nature of the Rules applicable to a Penitentiary, interfere
materially with the exercise of those rights which they enjoyed in
this Country, and to which as British Subjects they conceive
themselves entitled in every part of His Majesty’s Dominions . . . nor
can I conceal from myself that Transportation to New South Wales
is becoming neither an object of Apprehension here nor the means
of Reformation in the Settlement itself, and that the Settlement
must be either placed upon a footing that shall render it possible
to enforce, with respect to all the Convicts, strict Discipline,
Regular Labour, and constant Superintendence, or the System of
unlimited Transportation to New South Wales must be abandoned.

I do not feel at present prepared to decide upon the Alternative,
which it may be expedient to recommend,* but, thinking it necessary
as a preliminary to such a Decision that the actual State of the

CONSTITUTIONAL Hlb TORY

Settlements in New South Wales should be distinctly ascertained
and that Information should without Delay be procured both as to
the Means, by which it is practicable to remedy the cxiltiny IaiIs,
and as to the Charge, which such an undertaking might biing up<m
the public, I propose (should it meet with Youi^ Lordship's Concur-
rence) to recommend to His Royal Highness The Prince Regent
the appointment of Commissioners, \\ho shall forthwith proceed to
the Settlements, with full power to investigate all the Complaints
which have been made both with respect to the Treatment of the
Convicts and the General Administration of the Government, and
to report to His Royal Highness the Improvements and Alterations
of which the present System appears to them to be susceptible, and
the charge which their Adoption may bring upon the Public.

14. Tke Commission of J. T. Bigge. 1819.

(Enc. No. 1 in Bathurst to Macquarie, 30 January 1819. H,R.A, I,
10, pp. 3-4.)

[Noto: For a more detailed expJanarion for the rearons for appointing Bigge,
see the preceding document. See also Bathurst to Bigge, 6 January 1819, H.R,A.
I, 10, pp. 4-11.]

In the Name of and on behalf of His Majesty.

George, P. R.

GEORGE the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, To Our
Trusty and Well-beloved John Thomas Bigge, Esqre., Greeting.
Whereas We have judged it expedient to cause an Enquiry to be
made into the present State of the Settlements in Our 1 erritory
of New South Wales and its Dependencies, and of the Laws,
Regulations and Usages, Civil Military and Ecclesiastical prevailing
therein, Now Know You that We, having especial Trust and
Confidence in your approved Wisdom and Fidelity, have assigned,
nominated and appointed and by these presents assign, nominate
and appoint you, the said John Thomas Bigge, to be Our Commis-
sioner to repair to Our said Settlements in Our said Territory
in New South Wales, and by these Presents do give you full power
and Authority to examine into all the Laws Regulations and Usages
of the Settlements in the said Territory and its Dependencies, and
into every other Matter or Thing in any way connected with the
Administration of the Civil Government, the Superintendence and
Reform of the Convicts, the State of the Judicial, Civil and Eccles-
iastical Establishments, Revenues, Trade and internal Resources
thereof, and to report to Us the Information, which You shall collect
together, with your opinion thereupon, reducing your Proceedings,
by Virtue of these Presents and your Observations touching and
concerning the premises, into writing, to be certified under Your

318 SELECT .DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

hand and Seal, and We do hereby require Our Governor of Our
said Territory for the time being and all and every One, Officers and
Ministers <%vithin the said Territory and its Dependencies to be
aiding and assisting to you in the due execution of this Our
Commission. In Witness &ca. And for so doing this shall be Your
Warrant.

Given at Our Court at Carlton House this fifth day of January,
1819, in the Fifty ninth Year of Our Reign. By the Command of
eHis Royal Highness the Prince Regent in the name and on the
behalf of His Majesty. BATHURST

15. The Legislative Council Created by the Act of 1823.

{Statutes at Large, Vol. IX.)

[Note: This Act was passed partly to remove the legal disabilities referred
to in the petition of the emancipists, partly to provide for relations between
Masters and Servants (see Section 8, F of this volume), partly to meet the
difficulty referred to in Document No. 12, and partly to carry out the recom-
mendations of Commissioner Bigge.]

An Act to provide, until the First Day of July One thousand
eight hundred and twenty seven, and until the End of the next
Session of Parliament, for the better Administration of Justice
in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, and for the more
effectual Government thereof; and for other purposes relating
thereto. 4 Geo. IV. c. 96. (19th July 1823.)

XXIV. And Whereas it may be necessary to make Laws and
Ordinances for the Welfare and good Government of the said Colony
of New South Wales, and the Dependencies thereof, the Occasions
of which cannot be foreseen, nor without much Delay and Incon-
venience be provided for, without entrusting that Authority for a
certain Time, and under proper Restrictions, to Persons resident
therq,: And Whereas it is not at present expedient to call a Legis-
lative Assembly in the said Colony; Be it therefore enacted. That it
shall and may be lawful for His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors,
by Warrant under His or Their Sign Manual, to constitute and
appoint a Council, to consist of such Persons resident in the said
Colony, not exceeding Seven nor less than Five, as His Majesty,
His Heirs and Successors, shall be pleased to appoint; and upon the
Death, ^ Removal or Absence of any of the Members of the said
Council, in like^ Manner to constitute and appoint such and so
many other Person or Persons as shall be necessary to supply the
Vacancy or Vacancies; and the Governor or Acting Governor for
the Time being of the said Colony, with the Advice of the Council
to be appointed as aforesaid, or the major Part of them, shall have
Power and Authority to make Laws and Ordinances for the Peace,

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 319

Welfare and good Government of the said Colony, such Laws and
Ordinances not being repugnant to this Act, or to any Charter or
Letters Patent or Order in Council which may be issued m pursuance
hereof, or to the Laws of England, but consistent with such Laws, so
far as the Circumstances of the said Colony jvill admit : Pro\ided
always, that no Law or Ordinance shall be passed or made, unless
the same shall first by the said Governor or Acting Governor be laid
before the said Council, at a Meeting to be for that Purpose convened
by a written Summons under the Hand of such Governor or Acting
Governor, to be delivered to or left at the usual Place of Abode of
the Members of such Council respectively; provided also, that in
case all or the major Part of the Members of the said Council shall
dissent from any Law or Ordinance proposed by such Governor or
Acting Governor at any such Meeting as aforesaid, the Members of
the said Council so dissenting shall enter upon the Minutes of such
Council the Grounds and Reasons of such their Dissent, and in
every such Case such proposed Law or Ordinance shall not pass
into a Law; provided nevertheless, that if it shall appear to the
Governor or Acting Governor for the Time being of the said Colony,
that such proposed Law or Ordinance is essential to the Peace and
Safety thereof, and cannot without extreme Injury to the Welfare
and good Government of the said Colony be rejected, then and in
every such Case, if any one or more Member or Members of the
said Council shall assent to such proposed Law, the said Governor
shall enter upon the Minutes of the Council the Grounds and
Reasons of such his Opinion; and in every such Case, and until
the Pleasure of His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, shall be made
known in the said Colony respecting the same, such Law or Ordin-
ance shall be of full Force and Effect in the said Colony, and the
Dependencies thereof, any such Dissent as aforesaid of the Majority
of the Members of the said Council notwithstanding.

XXV. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That in case any
Rebellion or Insurrection shall have actually broken out in the
said Colony, or if in the Judgment of the Governor or Acting
Governor thereof for the Time being, there shall be good and
sufficient Cause to apprehend that any such Rebellion or Insurrec-
tion is about forthwith to break out therein, then and in every such
Case it shall and may be lawful for such Governor or Acting
Governor to promulgate and enforce within the said Colony and
its Dependencies any Law or Ordinance which may be necessary
for suppressing or preventing any such Rebellion or Insurrection
as aforesaid, although every Member of the said Council should
dissent from any such Law or Ordinance.

XXVI. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That it shall and
may be lawful for His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, by any

320 SELECT r^GUMENlS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Order to be by Him or Them issued by and with the Advice of His
or Their Privy Council, to make and establish any Law or Ordinance
which ma}Aiave been preHously laid before and dissented from by
the whold or the major Part of the said Council, in case such Law
or Ordinance shall appear to His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors,
to be necessary for the better Government of the said Colony and its
Dependencies.

XXVIL Provided also, and be it further enacted, That the said
Goveimor and Council shall not impose any Tax or Duty upon any
Ship or Vessel trading with the said Colony or the Dependencies
thereof, or upon any Goods, Wares and Merchandize imported
into or exported from the same, nor any other Tax or Duty, except
only such Taxes or Duties as it may be necessary to levy for local
Purposes; and the Purposes for which every such Tax or Duty may
be so imposed, and to or towards which the Amount thereof is to
be appropriated and applied, shall be distinctly and particularly
stated in the Body of every Law or Ordinance imposing every such
Tax or Duty.

XXIX. And be it further enacted, That no Law or Ordinance shall
by the said Governor or Acting Governor be laid before the said
Council for their Advice or Approbation, or be passed into a Law,
unless a Copy thereof shall have been first laid before the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and unless such
Chief Justice shall have transmitted to the said Governor or Acting
Governor a Certificate under the Hand of such Chief Justice, that
such proposed Law is not repugnant to the Laws of England, but
is consistent with such Laws, so far as the Circumstances of the
said Colony will admit.

XXX. And be it further enacted, That every Law or Ordinance
so to be made as aforesaid shall, within Six Months from the Date
thereof, be transmitted by the Governor or Acting Governor for
the Time being of the said Colony to One of His Majesty’s Principal
Secretaries of State for the Time being; and that it shall and may
be lawful for His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, from time to
time as He or They shall think necessary, to signify, through One of
His or Their Principal Secretaries of State, His or Their Approbation
or Disallowance of all such Laws and Ordinances; and that from
and immediately after the Time when such Disallowance shall be
published in the said Colony, by a Proclamation to be for that
Purpose issued by the said Governor or Acting Governor, all such
Laws and Ordinances shall be null and void; but in case His
Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, shall not, within the Space
o'' Three Years from the making of such Laws and Ordinances,
signify His or Their Disapprobation or Disallowance thereof as

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY, 321

aforesaid, then and in that Case all such Laws and Ord’ nances
shall be valid and effectual, and have full Force.

XXXI. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That all Laws and
Ordinances to be made in the said Colony, and all Orders to be made
by His Majesty, His Heirs, and Successors, w^h the x*\dvice of His
and their Privy Council, in pursuance of this Act, shall be laid
before both Houses of Parliament within Six Weeks at latest next
after the Commencement of each Session.

XXXI 11. And be it further enacted, That in case of the Death,
Absence or permanent Incapacity of any Member or Members of
the said Legislative Council, the Governor or x-Vcti ng Governor
for the Time being of the said Colony shall and may appoint some
fit and proper Person to act in the Place and Stead of such Person
or Persons, until the Vacancy or Vacancies so created shall be filled
up by an Appointment to be made by His Majesty, His Heirs and
Successors, in Planner aforesaid. . . .

16* A Petition for Trial by Jury and Representative Govern-
ment. 1825.

(Extract from the address of farew’dl to Sir Thomas Brisbane,
26 October 1825. H,RA, IV, 1, pp. 629-31.)

[Note: In his reply to this petition Brisbane insisted that all sections wanted
liberal institutions in New South Wales. The only difference of opinion was
when they should be introduced: “How far her offspring, in this infant Empire,
may be fitted to receive those Institutions, which in a more ripened age will
become their indisputable inheritance, differences of opinion do prevail; and
it is a question, upon which some diversity of sentiment may be allowed to exist,
without any impeachment of motives.’* H.R.A. IV, 1, p. 632.]

While we are bidding Your Excellency farewell, wx feel that
we can entirely rely upon your watchfulness to embrace all oppor-
tunities which may offer, on your return, of suggesting to His
Majesty’s Government the pressing necessity which exists for the
immediate establishment, in this Colony, in all their plenitude,
of those two fundamental principles of the British Constitution,
Trial by Jury and Taxation by Representation. We are not ignorant
that, upon both these subjects, Your Excellency’s opinion has long
been accordant with the general opinion of the Colony. Your
Excellency cannot but have felt the inconvenience of directing the
efforts of a Free People, left at large as it were to guide themselves
by the analogies and recollections of English Law and English
usage, in the absence of their ancient free institutions; a People
whose good sense, moral feeling, and patriotism alone have prevent-
ed them from a louder expression of their impatience, when their
English prejudices have been outraged by the unavoidable vexations

322 SELECT POCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

of a Government, so anti-British in its structure and operation that
it would be difficult to designate it by a just name.

With respect to Trial by Jury^ the Magistrates of Sydney have'
already expressed the voice of the people in their answer to the
patriotic interrogatoj^y put to them by Your Excellency; and as to
that other great first principle of the British Constitution, Taxation
by Representation, we are aware how much Your Excellency has
needed the assistance of a deliberative Assembly which, to prevent
the iitfiuence of party faction, ought to consist of at least one hundred
Members, a number, which our population can readily furnish,
of men in every way qualified to discharge that duty to their fellow
Colonists.

The Inhabitants of New South Wales, composed exclusively of
British-born subjects and their descendants, how amount to nearly
fifty thousand : A population exceeding the entire white population
of the Colonies in the West Indies; and, as far as good morals are
necessary for the enjoyment of enlarged Civil Rights, Your Excell-
ency’s extensive acquaintance with the other Colonies must have
convinced you that we excel them all in this great particular. The
orderly state of Sydney, although a sea-port, the great attention
and encouragement which schools and religious Societies receive
from all classes, and the peace and order of our streets on the
Sabbath day, all demonstrate that the seeds of Religion and good
morals have taken deep root in Australia.

We will not, however, hide it from the Representative of Our
Most Gracious Sovereign that there are Colonists of rank and
wealth here, and of very great influence at home, who are inimical
to the establishment in New South Wales of the British Constitution.
These persons were also unfriendly to the late substitution of English
Law, in the place of the arbitrary Regulations of preceding Gover-
nors. But the history of every institution, which has eminently
blessed mankind, will shew the impolicy of withholding a great
and gdheral benefit, until those for whom it is calculated should
be unanimous in their petition to obtain it.

[Note: For a different opinion on the points made in this petition see H.R.A.
IV, 1, pp. 633-5.]

17. Tlie Legislative Councils created by the Act of 1828.

{Statutes at Large, VoL XI.)

An Act to provide for the Administration of Justice in Mew
South Wales and Van Diemen^ s Land, and for the more effectual
Government thereof, and for other purposes relating thereto.

9 Geo. IV. c.83. (25th July, 1828.)

[Note: By s. XLI this Act was to expire either on 31 December 1836 or at
the end of the next session of parliament. It was extended for periods of twelve

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 323

months by the following statutes; 6 & 7 Will. IV. C. 46; 7 Will. IV & 1 \lct.
c. 42 ; 1 & 2 Viet. c. 1 : and 2 & 3 Viet. c. 70.

For minor ehanges in the constitution of New South Wales between 1828
and 1842 see A. G. V. Melbourne: Early Constitutional Development^' in Ausiralm^
Pt III.]

XX. And Whereas it may be necessary to make Laws and
Ordinances for the Welfare and good Government of the said
Colonies of J^ew South Wales and Van Diemen^ s Land^ and the
Dependencies thereof, the Occasions of which cannot be foreseen,
nor without much Delay and Inconvenience be provided for,
without intrusting that Authority for a certain Time, and under
proper Restrictions, to Persons resident there: And Whereas it is
not at present expedient to call a Legislative Assembly in either of
the said Colonies: Be it therefore enacted, That it shall and may-
be lawful for His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, by Warrants
under His or their Sign Manual, to constitute and appoint, in
Mew South Wales and Van Diemerds Land respectively, a Council,
to consist of such Persons resident in the said Colonies respectively,
not exceeding Fifteen nor less then Ten, as His Majesty, His Heirs
and Successors, shall be pleased to nominate,

XXL And be it further enacted, That neither of the said Councils
shall be competent to act unless Two Thirds at the least of the
whole Number of Members on the List of such Council, exclusive
of the said Governor or presiding Member, shall be actually present
and assisting at the Deliberations thereof; and the Votes, Acts, and
Resolutions of the major Part of the Members so present shall be
deemed and taken to be the Votes, Acts, and Resolutions of the
whole of such Council; and upon the Death, Resignation, Removal,
or Absence of any of the Members of the said Councils, it shall be
lawful for His Majesty in like Manner to constitute and appoint
such and so many other Person or Persons as shall be necessary to
supply the Vacancy or Vacancies; and the Governors for the Time
bemg of the said Colonies respectively, with the Advice of the Legis-
lative Councils, to be appointed as aforesaid, shall have Power and
Authority to make Laws and Ordinances for the Peace, Welfare,
and good Government of the said Colonies respectively. Such Laws
and Ordinances not being repugnant to this Act, or to any Charter
or Letters Patent or Order in Council which may be issued in
pursuance hereof, or to the Laws of England: Provided always, that
no Law or Ordinance shall be passed or made, unless the same shall
first, by the said Governors respectively, be laid before the said
respective Councils, nor unless Notice of the general Objects thereof
shall have been sent by the Governor of the Colony for which such
Law or Ordinance shall be proposed, to One or more of the
Newspapers of such Colony for Insertion, Eight dear Days at least

321- SELECT ^DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

before such Law or Ordinance shall be passed, or unless, in case
there be no Newspaper, such Notice shall be given by some other
Mode of public Advertisement, except when the Governor of such
Colony shall consider the Circumstances of that Colony to be such
as to make it probable that actual Danger would arise from the
said Delay of Eight^Days, in which Case the Governor and Council
shall have Power to pass such Law or Ordinance in such Emergency
as they shall deem requisite without any such Notice as aforesaid:
Proyided also, that in case all or the major Part of the Members of
either of the said Councils present at any such Meeting shall dissent
from any Law or Ordinance propo ed by such Governor, the
Members o the said Council so dissenting shall enter upon the
Minutes of such Council the Grounds and Reasons of such their
Dissent, and in every such Case such proposed Law or Ordinance
shall not pass into a Law; and that in any Case where e'ther of the
said Governors respectively shall refuse to lay any Proposal of any
Law or Ordinance before his respective Council, he shall, on the
Request of any Member of such Council, lay before the said Council
a Copy of his Refusal thereof, in which Copy the Proposal so refused
shall be recited verbatim ; and every Member or Members who may
disapprove such Refusal shall be at liberty to enter upon the said
Minutes the Grounds of such Disapprobation.

XXI 1. And be it further enacted, That every Law or Ordinance so
to be made as aforesaid, shall, within Seven Days from the Date
thereof, be transmitted by the Governors of the said Colonies
respectively to the said Supreme Courts, to be there enrolled and
recorded, and at the Expiration of Fourteen Days from the Day of
the Date thereof every such Law or Ordinance so to be made as
aforesaid shall take effect and be binding upon all His Majesty’s
Subjects and others within the said Colonies respectively, until
His Majesty’s Pleasure shall be known; but if before the Expiration
of the said Term oT Fourteen Days the Judges of the said Supreme
Courts respectively, or either of such Judges, shall transmit to such
Governor a Representation that any such Law or Ordinance is
repugnant to this Act, or to any Charter or Letters Patent, or Orders
in Council issued in pursuance hereof, or to the Laws of England^
then and upon the Receipt of any such Representation, such
Governor shall suspend the Operation of such Law or Ordinance,
until the same hath been brought by him, together with such
Representation as aforesaid, under the Review of the said Legis-
lative Council; and if upon a Review by the said Governor in
Council of the said Ordinance the said Governor in Council shall
adhere to such Ordinance, a written Notice of such Resolution
shall forthwith be transmitted by the said Governor to the Judges
of the said Supreme Court; and such Ordinance shall thenceforward

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

325

take effect and be binding upon all His Majesty’s Subjects ^vithi^
the said Colonies, until His Majesty’s Pleasure shall be known, anv
Repugnancy or supposed Repugnancy of such Law or'Ordinanre
to this Act, or to any such Charter, Letters Patent, or Orders in
Council as aforesaid or to the Laws oi England, notwithstanding;
and such Judges shall and they are hereby required, in any such
Representation as aforesaid, to state fully and at length the Grounds
of such their Opinions; which Representation shall be forthivith
transmitted by such Governor to His Majesty through One oT His
Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State.

XXIIL And be it further enacted, That the Governor for the Time
being of the said Colonies respectively shall in Person preside at all
the Meetings of the said respective Legislative Councils, except when
prevented by Illness or some other adequate Cause; and that in his
Absence such other Member of the said Council as His ^Majesty shall
be pleased to appoint shall preside at such Meetings; and that such
Governor or presiding Member shall be entitled to vote upon all
Questions proposed at any such Meeting, and when the Votes are
equally divided shall also have an additional or casting Vote.

XXVII. Provided nevertheless, and be it further enacted, That all
and every the Powers and Authorities vested by the said Acts, or
either of them, in the Governor of New South Wales, or the Person
administering the Government thereof, shall henceforward be
vested in and exercised by the Governors of New South Wales and
Van Diemen's Land respectively, acting with the Advice and Consent
of the respective Legislative Councils of the said Colonies; and that
the Produce of the several Duties imposed and made payable under
or by virtue of the said Acts of Parliament, or either of them, or
under and by virtue of this Act, shall be applied in such Manner
and to such Purposes as the said Governors and Councils may from
time to time by any such Law or Ordinance appoint, and the
Application thereof shall be accounted for to His Majesty in such
Manner as the Lord High Treasurer or the Commissioners of His
Majesty’s Treasury shall appoint.

XXVIIL And be it further enacted. That every Law or Ordinance
so to be made as aforesaid shall, within Six Months from the Date
thereof, be transmitted by the Governors for the Time being of the
said Colonies respectively to One of His Majesty’s Principal
Secretaries of State for the Time being; and that it shall and may
be lawful for His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, from time to
time, as He or They shall think necessary, to signify, through One of
His or Their Principal Secretaries of State, His or Their Approbation
or Disallowance of all such Laws and Ordinances; and that from
and immediately after the Time when such Disallowance shall be

326 SELECT D'OGUMENTS in AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

published in the said Colonies respectively, by Proclamation to be
for that Purpose issued by the said Governors, all such Laws and
Ordinances shall be null and void; but in case His Majesty, His
Heirs and Successors, shall not, within the Space of Four Years
from the making of Such Laws and Ordinances, signify His or their
Disapprobation or Disallowance thereof as aforesaid, then and in
that Case ail such Laws and Ordinances shall be valid and effectual
and have full Force.

XXIX. Provided also, and be it further enacted. That all Laws
and Ordinances to be made in the said Colonies respectively, and
all Orders to be made by His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors,
with the Advice of His and Their Privy Council, in pursuance of
this Act, shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within
Six Weeks at latest next after the Commencement of each Session.

[Note: Provisions for Trial by Jury: In s. 6 of the Act 4 Geo. IV. c. 96 it
was enacted that in civil cases a jury of twelve could try issues of fact if both the
plaintiff and the defendant demanded it. In s. 8 of the Act 9 Geo. IV. c. 83 the
Legislative Council of New South Wales was empowered to make provision for
trial by jury in civil cases. Between 1829 and 1839 the Legislative Council used
this power to introduce trial by jury in the Acts 10 Geo. IV, No. 2 and 2 Will.
IV, No. 3, For the texts of these Acts see T. Callaghan: Acis and Ordinances of the
Governor and Council of New South Wales. On 28 June 1830 an Order in Council em-
powered the Legislative Council of New South Wales to extend trial by jury
should they wish to do so. The first important extension was introduced in the
Act 4 Will. IV, No. 12, of 28 August 1833, entitled “An Act to continue for a
limited time an Act of the Governor and Council of New South Wales, intituled
an Act for regulating the constitution of juries, and for the Trial of Issues in
certain cases, in the Supreme Court of New South Wales; and to make further
provision for Trial by Jury in Criminal Cases in the said Colony”. Section 2
of this Act provided for trial by jury in criminal cases before the Supreme Court
if the accused desired it. Amending Acts — 4 Will. IV, No. 13 and 5 Will. IV,
No. 25-— were passed in 1834 and 1835. See also 6 Will. IV, No. 15; 7 Will. IV,
No, 9; 1 Viet., No. 1; 2 Viet., No. 4; and 2 Viet., No. 5. The military juries
were feally abolished by the Act 3 Viet., No. 11 of 20 September 1839, entitled
“An Act to make further Regulation with respect to Trial by Jury in Criminal
Issues in the Colony of New South Wales, and to amend the Form of Proceedings
in Criminal Prosecutions in the said Colony”.

In the same year, 1839, the British Parliament passed an Act which referred
the right to legislate on the administration of justice to the Legislative Councils of
New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. This was provided for in s. 2 of
&e Act 2 & 3 Viet. c. 70 of 24 August 1839. See Statutes at Large, Vol. XXXIII.
This was the first major transfer of power from Westminster to Australia.}

18 . THe Parties in New South Wales and the Future Compos-
ition of the Council. 1833 .

(Bourke to Stanley, 25 December 1833. H.R.A. I, 17, pp. 303-6.)

I would first briefly bring to your recollection the fact that there
are two Parties, into which the Community of New South Wales
is more or less divided; these Parties are usually designated

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

327

Emigrants and Emancipists, although the respective Bodies are not
confined to that Exact description of Persons, for, in comiexinn with
the latter, are to be found a great number of free Emigr^iiits, and
generally those who advocate liberal principles. I could not perhaps
better convey a right impression of these two Parties than bv men-
tioning the strong interest which is felt in the Colony in all the
great events, which take place in England, and that the Sentiments
of the liberal party here are with His Majesty's Government in all
those measures of public improvement, which they are happily
accomplishing. The existance of this general division of Parties in
the Colony has been frequently recognised in Parliament, and
would seem to have formed one of the strongest grounds for depart-
ing so widely from the Laws of England in the creation of the
Legislative Council, composed of fifteen Persons wholly appointed
by the- Crown, and in the Institution of a Jury consisting of seven
Military officers. By the appointment of the latter, His AiajesU-’s
Government contemplated and affected the erection of an impartial
though not a popular tribunal for the trial of ofienders, and by
reserving the nomination of the Members of the Council it was
doubtless proposed to obviate the ill effects, which were apprehended
from a preponderance of the Emancipist Party, if the choice were
left to popular Election. It has happened however that the Selection
of the Unofficial Members of the Council has been made almost
entirely from the opposite side, and the official IMembers being for
the most part inclined the same way, the evil of legislating for the
whole community by means of a Council composed of one Party
exists at this moment in full force, and is only checked by the power
possessed by the Head of the Government to prevent the introduction
of any Bills but such as he approves. This power is sometimes
ineffectual, and, it being open to the Members to propose Amend-
ments, occasion is offered for party feelings to operate, and the
consequence of this state of things is that, in every question at all
partaking of a popular character, the unofficial Members with but
one exception are usually opposed to it. . . .

, . . The experience I have had during the last Session, and the
disposition manifested by the Council in certain cases have tended
strongly to increase a Mistrust, which I had previously formed of the
expediency of confiding so much irresponsible power to so small a
number of Persons, who by combination may at least defeat the
objects of Government, if they cannot secure their own. . . .

The mistrust of the Legislative Body, which is entertained by a
large portion of the people, including in the number Persons of
integrity, wealth and industry, appears in the numerous publications
which issue from the Colonial Press. . , .

I would propose, as a partial remedy for the evil complained of.

328 SELECT Documents in Australian history

to open the doors of the Council Chamber to as many strangers
as might be conveniently admitted ....

If I migfit venture to propose that remedy, which under all the
circumstances of the case appears to me to be the most free from
objection, and caldhlated to afford the greatest relief, I would
suggest the enlarging by Act of Parliament the present Council to
about 24 Members, two thirds of which should be elected by the
Colonists for the most populous Districts in a given proportion
according to the number of the Inhabitants, whilst the remaining
third and the President should be named by the Crown. At the
expiration of four years, there should be a new Election and
nomination. Professing that a Council so constituted is an approx-
imation only to a representative form of assembly, and that it is
intended to be temporary in its duration, I would confine the
eligibility of Members to Persons, who had arrived free or were born
within the Colony, but extend the right of election to all Persons
qualified to serve as Jurors. . . .

... I do not think that limiting by Act of Parliament the Eligibility
of the Candidate in the same way that it is limited in Canada and
Newfoundland, namely to Persons who had never been convicted
of Felony or any transportable Offence, would be received with an
ill-grace by the generality of the Colonists, nor even by the better
thinking part of the Emancipists, few of whom stand in that relative
position to the Electors as to be likely to be returned even if eligible
to become Members of the Legislative Council.

[Note: Similar opinions on the composition and powers of the Council were
held by Governor Gipps. See Gipps to Glenelg, 1 January 1839, H,R,A. I, 19,
pp. 719-24,]

19. The Results of Eucouraging the Emancipists. 1810-35 c.

(J. Macarthur: New South Wales^ pp. 26-7.)

Had the encouragement of the convict population been indeed
regulated upon the principle of conferring rewards on good conduct
only, such a course could scarcely have failed to be productive of
consequences alike beneficial to the individuals and to the
community at large. But when men, who had been convicts, and
who were besides disqualified by want of education, or previous
mode of life, were appointed magistrates and public functionaries;

■ — ^when land was distributed with undiscriminating profusion
amongst the whole class of emancipated convicts without regard
to good or ill conduct; — ^when the circumstance of having come
free to the colony, conferred no claim to favour; and that of having
been convicted became proverbially the best security for prefer-
ment; — ^is it surprising that the free settlers should have expressed

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY^. 329

their dissatisfaction at the continuance, and their apprehension
of the probable results of so extraordinary a system ?

The natural consequence of this system was leactiom, — a deter-
mination, on the part of the emigrant colonists, to mamtain the
more strictly those distinctions which it \ 3^ the object of the
Governor to break down.

On the part of the emancipated convicts, on the other hand,
it gecvt rise to claims for full participation in civil rights and political
privileges, upon the basis of property alone, without reference io ch^racUr
and conduct. It was the origin also of a feeling, at one time very
generally prevalent amongst this class, and which still exists in the
minds of many, that the colony was theirs by right, and that the
emigrant settlers were interlopers upon the soil.

20. The Aims of the Patriotic Association. 1835.

{H.R.A, I, 18, Note 16, pp. 805-6.)

[Note: This association was formed at a public meeting in Sydney on 29
May 1835. For an account of the meeting see the Australian newspaper for 2
June 1835. In an advertisement in the same issue, the Australian publishes a
list of the subscribers to the association. For other details of its work see the
Australian for June 1835-42. See also W. Bland: Papers of the Australian Patriotic
Association, For a comment on its work see E. Sweetman: Australian Constitutional
Development, Ch. 10, and A. C. V. Melbourne: Early Constitutional Deieloprnent
in Australia, Pt III, Ch. 6.]

That the Meeting, coinciding in the measures proposed by Mr.
Bulwer, do pledge themselves to carry the same into effect, and, to
that end, do cordially accept the disinterested and friendly offer,
named by him, to act as our Colonial Parliamentary advocate
(moved by Sir John Jamison, seconded by W. G. Wentworth).

That it is requisite, agreeably with Mr. Bulwer’s suggestion, that
an Association of the Colonists shall be formed to watch over the
political and general interests of the community, whose duty it shall
be to carry on correspondence with the Parliamentary Adv;ocate,
in order that an authentic exposition of the real state of the Colonial
affairs may be from time to time exhibited before the British House
of Commons; and that such Association shall consist of all such
persons, as may subscribe annually the sum of one pound and
upwards ; and that from amongst the Members of the Association,
who shall subscribe five pounds and upwards, shall be elected a
Directing Committee; and that, in all elections for the Directing
Committee, every member shall have one vote for every one pound
subscription, but shall be limited to five votes in all. And further
that each subscriber shall sign an obligation to pay annually, for the
term of four years, such sum as he shall affix opposite his name, and
that such subscription be forthwith entered into (moved by S.
Stephen, seconded by J. B. Bettington).

330 SELECT ]?^OGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

That an Agent shall be appointed by the Members of the Genera
Committee, ivho shall be sent from this Colony and whose duties
it shall be^ to render every information and assistance to the
Parliamentary Advocate in furthering the objects of the Committee;
and that he shall maintain an office for the use of such Parliamentary
Advocate; and that the appointment of such Agent shall be and
continue for the term of four years. And there shall also be elected
a Secretary of the Committee, resident in Sydney, appointed to
caiTVrOn, under the superintendence of the correspondence with the
Parliamentary Advocate and the Agent (moved by Revd. R.
Mansfield, seconded by W. Hutchinson) .

That, to enable the Committee to carry their measures into
operation. His Excellency the Governor be requested to lay a Bill
before the Legislative Council for the appropriation of a sum not
exceeding ;^2,000 per annum from the Colonial Revenue, to defray
the expenses attendant upon the several appointments alluded to,
and authorizing such appointment to be elected by the Colonists;
which said Bill shall be prepared by the Committee, and, when such
expenses shall be paid by the Public Treasury, the aforesaid sub-
scriptions shall cease (moved by D. Poole, seconded by Dr. Bland).

That the Colonists of Van Diemen’s Land be requested to coalesce
with the Meeting in furthering the objects proposed (moved by
R. Hipkiss, seconded by P. Alacintyre).

[Note: For comments on the political groups in New South Wales see:

1. J. Macarthur: Hem South Wales, pp. 26-7.

2. The editions of the Australian, the Colonist and the Sydney Herald in the 1830s.]
21. Petition by the Exclusives. 1836.

(Enc. No. Al in Bourke to Glenelg, 13 April 1836. H,R.A. I, 18,
pp. 392-5.)

[Note: There were two petitions’ by the Exclusives. One, which is printed
below, was addressed to the King. The other, printed on pp. 395-9 of the same
volume^of H.R.A., was addressed to the House of Commons. They were both
drawn up at a meeting at the house of Mr Jones, a member of the Legislative
Council- For a list of the signatures to these two petitions see J. Macarthur:
Hew South Wales', Appendix No. 2. For further information on the opinions
of this group see Ch. 8 of the same work.]

The Petition of the undersigned Members of Council, Magistrates,
Clergy, Landholders, Merchants, and other Free Inhabitants of
New South Wales.

To the King’s most Excellent Majesty.

Most humbly Sheweth,

That your Petitioners, being deeply concerned in whatever
effects the welfare of this remote portion of your Majesty’s Domin-
ions, feel it to be their duty, on the occasion of the expiration of the
existing Act of Parliament, and the enactment of a new law for the

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

331

government of New South Wales, with all humilit)' to bring under
Your \lajesty’s consideration some of the chief evils and difficulties
they are at present exposed to, and which, unless av<^*ted by the
timely interposition of your Royal authority and the wisdtom of the
National Councils, your Petitioners are apprehensive will seriously
retard the advancement of the Colony and endanger its best interests.

Your Petitioners beg most humbly to submit to Your Majesty
that, notwithstanding the Colony exhibits the marks of Agricultural,
Commercial, and Financial prosperity, to an extraordinary and
unexampled degree, this flourishing condition of its affairs is
unhappily counterbalanced by a lamentable depravity of manners,
and by the fearful prevalence of crime arising amongst other causes
from the increased and increasing difficulty, as the to^vns become
more populous and the community extends over a wider surface,
of keeping up an effective system of Police for the prevention or
punishment of crime, and the consequent relaxation of discipline
amongst the convict population; from the inadequacy of the means
of religious and moral instruction; and more than all from the
continual influx of transported criminals, without a sufficient
number of free emigrants of virtuous and industrious habits to check
the contaminating influence, and infuse a better tone into society. , , .

That the Legislative Council, as at present constituted, is in a
great measure inoperative from a majority of its members being
Government officers, from its debates not being open to the public,
from the members not having power to originate laws, and from
the presence of the Governor as President, which your Petitioners
would humbly submit tends to obstruct the free expression of
opinion.

That, by the provisions of the Colonial Jury Law, individuals
having undergone sentence of transportation for their crimes
and other ignominious puni hments, as well as persons of bad repute
and low standing in society, have been placed as Jurors upon the
same footing with Magistrates and men of unblemished reputation,
a measure which, your Petitioners are informed, was attempted
merely as an experiment, and the failure of which, they have
reason to believe, is now universally admitted. If they could
contemplate the possibility of such a law being not only continued,
but extended upon the same principles and rendered imperative
in the formation of all Juries, both Civil and Criminal, as well^ as
in the exercise of the other important functions of a Representative
Government, their minds, would be harassed and borne down by
the most gloomy forbodings. , . , .

Fully appreciating, as they ever must, those institutions and
privileges, which are the soul and essence of the Government of
England, your Petitioners cannot forget that in England they are

332 SELECT I^^OGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

based upon the sure foundation of religion and morality. To attempt
to carry them into operation, by means at variance with these
principles, appears to your Petitioners to be anomalous and
contradictory, and must, they apprehend, be productive of the most
dangerous and lamentable consequences. Greatly therefore, as they
desire to be placed upon the same footing as their fellow-subjects,
they would humbly submit that it is still questionable, ewhther the
Colony is prepared to enjoy the free institutions of Great Britain;
many;experienced persons being of opinion that that much-wished-
for period has not yet arrived, whilst those, who hold an opposite
opinion, have proposed no satisfactory basis for the Elective and
Representative franchise. . . ,

Your Petitioners are sensible that upon the measures, that may
be now adopted for the Government of the Colony, depend their
own best interests, as well as those of their children. Property,
life, reputation, moral and political well-being, whatever in short
should be dear to men who have been taught to distinguish a
rational and well-founded freedom from the disorganizing doctrines,
which, under the name of liberty, would subvert the land-marks
of social order, and, confounding all just distinctions, sap the
foundations of society; all these are at stake. . . .

22. The Petition by the Emancipists. 1836.

(Enc. marked B in Bourke to Glenelg, 13 April 1836. H.R.A. I,
18, pp. 399-403.)

[Note : This petition ^vas drawn up at a meeting at the Royal Hotel, Sydney,
on 12 April 1836. Wentworth moved the adoption of the petition. The motion
was seconded by S. Stephen and carried unanimously. For a full account of
this meeting see the Australian for 15 April 1836. For the emancipist petition
of August 1834 see H.R.A, I, 17, p. 496. For further information on the demands
of the Emancipists see the Australian for 1830-6, especially 24 March 1835 and
11 December 1835. For the petition of 1830 see the Australian for 10 February
1830. For the petition of 1833 see the Australian for 1 February 1833 and 24
March ^ 834.]

The Petition of the Free Inhabitants of New South Wales, at a
Public Meeting, duly convened at Sydney, in the said Colony, on
Tuesday, the 12th day of April, 1836, to take into consideration a
Printed Petition to His Majesty and another to your Honorable
House, now in circulation for signature, and to adopt such measures
for approval or disapproval of the subject matter of those Petitions
as the public interests and safety may require.

To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled.

Humbly sheweth, ....

That your Petitioners also fully admit the truth of the allegation
in the Petition to the House of Commons, ‘'That the Legislative

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 333

Council, as at present constituted, is inadequate to the exigencies
of the Colony, and has no hold upon the public confidence,
But your Petitioners are of opinion that the Legislative- Council,
which is therein proposed as a substitute for the present Legislative
Council, would from its obvious defects and mfschievous tendencies
prove still more inadequate, unpopular and odious, inasmuch as
the right of the Governor alone to originate laws on his high and
single responsibility, his presence and that of the Chief Justice
to aid with his eminent knowledge and talents in the deliberations
of the Council, and the infusion into it of a number of public
officers, are the only safeguards which the Colonists possess (con-
stituted as the Council now is, and as these Petitions still propose
it to be, wholly of non-elective Members) against a factious
oligarchy, who already hold it in equipoise, and trusting to their
secret influence in the Mother Country hope to increase the number,
and thus to acquire an undisputed preponderance, which would
have the effect of placing virtually at their disposal the whole power
and revenue of the Colony.

That your Petitioners feel so strongly on this point that they would
infinitely prefer a recurrence to the old despotic form of Government,
under which the Governor for the time being combined the Legis-
lative as well as Executive authority in his own person, either to the
present Legislative Council or to the still more numerous and
irresponsible Non-elective Council which is thus sought to be intro-
duced in its stead.

That the only safe and effectual remedy for the admitted defects
of the present Legislative Council consists in the establishment of
a Representative Legislature upon a wide and liberal basis; and
that the wishes and wants of a vast majority of the Free Colonists
on this point, as well as on other matters affecting their chief
interests, are fully set forth in their last Petition [for this see I,

22, p. 496] to your Honorable House, presented by Henry Lytton
Bulwer, Esquire. . . .

[The petitioners then produce evidence to refute three assertions
made in the petition by the Exclusives: that crime was increasing;
that the convicts lacked discipline; and that the jury system had
failed.]

That your Petitioners, however, consider that no necessity has
been or can be shewn to justify the exclusion from the rights and
privileges of Citizenship of the Freed Colonists, upon any other
grounds than those of conviction of crime committed in this Colony,
and bad repute; grounds of exclusion which the Local Legislature
has already adopted in the construction of Juries, and will doubtless
adopt from analogous reasons in the regulation of the elective and

334 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

representative franchises, whenever they shall be extended to the
Colony. .

That,*in the opinion of your Petitioners, the aforesaid Printed
Petitions have been^ot up by a small illiberal party, who have long
displayed their unbending hostility to the best interests of the Colony,
for the purpose of inducing His Majesty’s Ministers and Your Hon-
orable House still further to delay the granting of those Free
Institutions from which we have already been too long debarred,
under the hope that something may in the meanwhile occur to
further their views. . . .

Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray that your Honorable
House, on the expiration of the present Act providing for the
Government of this Colony, will be pleased to address His Majesty
to grant your Petitioners a Representative Assembly upon a wide
and liberal basis; or that your Honorable House will be pleased to
introduce, instead of the present Legislative Council, a Legislative
Council and Assembly, consisting of not fewer than fifty Members,
three-fourths of whom to be elected by your Petitioners, and the
remaining fourth to be the nominees of His Majesty. And your
Petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.

JOHN JAMISON, Chairman.

23. James Macarthur Appeals to the Emancipists. 1841.

{Sydney Morning Herald^ 6 February 1841.)

[Note: This is an extract from a speech made by James Macarthur at a public
meeting on Thursday, 4 February 1841, to protest against the dismemberment of
New South Wales.]

By the proceedings of this day, indeed we ought tb shew, that we
are ripe for those representative institutions, which we are all
anxious for. He would say, that he was quite ready, (forgetting the
past^^to come forward and meet any other portion of the public,
and discuss this subject upon reasonable grounds. He would not come
to discuss the propriety of a 10 suffrage, because there is and could
be no such thing in the colony; but if any other party would come
forward, and propose any reasonable terms, he would give them
his support. ... he hoped the period was not far distant when the
people of this colony will make their voices heard in the regions of
Downing street, and obtain a representative legislature. He would
not enter further into his views on the subject than to say, that he
thought the time had arrived, when the long agitated emancipist
question might be dropped, and that it would be unwise, in the new
bill, to have any clause whatever upon the subject. These opinions,
he would observe, were not new to him, as might be found upon
reference to the archives of Downing street, although he had to
bear the odium of being opposed to the emancipist interest.

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

335

24. The Act of 1842.

{Statutes at Large, VoL XVL)

[Note: This Act also contained provisions for the creation ofDistrcr Councils
-—see ss. XLI-L. For an account of the failure of these Councils and the reasuns
for that failure, see Encs. Nos. 1 and 2 in Grey to Fitzfo\ printed in Copies o!‘
the dispatch from Earl Grey to the Governor of New South Wales tuc., P,P,
1847-8, VoL XLII, No. 715. These enclosures contain reports bv La Trube and
E. Deas Thomson on the District Councils.

For the bill of Lord John Russell sec Enc. No. 2 in Russdi to Gipps, 2 Sepp mlier
1840, H.R.A. I, 20, pp. 789-97. For an account of these events see E. Sweeiinan:
Australian Constitutional Derjelopment, pp. 163-5.]

An Act for the Government of New South Wales and \''an

Diemen’s Land. 5 & 6 Viet. c.76. (30th July, 1842.;
WHEREAS it is expedient that further Provision be made for
the Government of Mw South Wales] be it therefore enacted by the
Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice* and
Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons,
in this present Parliament assembled, and b\' the Authority of the
same, That there shall be within the Colony of Am' South flaks
a Legislative Council, to be constituted in the Manner and for tiie
Purposes herein-after mentioned, and that the said Legislative
Council shall consist of Thirty-six Members, and that Tweh e of the
Members of the said Council shall from Time to Time, in the
Manner herein-after mentioned, be appointed by Her Majesty,
and that Twenty-Four of the Members of the said Council shall from
Time to Time, in the Manner herein-after mentioned, be elected
by the Inhabitants of the said Colony.

11. And be it enacted. That the Legislature now by Law established
within the said Colony of Akw South Wales shall, by Ordinances to
be for that Purpose made and enacted in the Aianner and subject
to the Conditions now by Law required in respect of any Ordinances
made and enacted by the said Legislature, make all necessary
Provisions for dividing the Parts of the said Colony within the
Boundaries of Location into convenient Electoral Districts, and for
appointing and declaring the Number of Members to vote at the
Elections to be holden within such Districts, and for the appointing
of Returning Officers, and for the issuing, executing, and returning
the necessary Writs for such Elections, and for taking the Poll
thereat, and for determining the Validity of all disputed Returns,
and otherwise for ensuring the orderly, effective, and impartial
Conduct of such Elections: Provided always, that the District of
Port Phillip and the Towns of Sydney and Melbourne shall be Electoral
Districts; and that the District of Port Phillip shall return at least
Five Members, the Town of Sydney shall return Two Members, and
the Town of Melbourne shall return One Member: Provided also,
that for the Purposes of this Act the Boundary of the District of

336 SELECT "bOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Port Phillip on the North and North-east shall be a straight Line
drawn from Cape How to the nearest Source of the River Murray^
and thejice the Course of that River to the Eastern Boundary
of the Province of South Australia,

IIL And be it enacted. That, for the Purpose of electing their
several Representatives to the said Legislative Council, the Towns of
Sydney and Melbourne^ and such other Towns as shall be declared
Electoral Districts, shall be deemed to be bounded and limited in
such** Manner as the Governor of the Colony of New South Wales,
by Proclamation to be published in the New South Wales Government
Gazette, or by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Colony,
shall set forth and describe; and such Parts of any such Town
(if any) which shall not be included within the Boundary set forth
or described in such Proclamation or Letters Patent, for the Purposes
of this Act, shall be taken to be a Part of the adjoining District, for
the Purpose of being represented in the said Legislative Council.

IV. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Governor and
the said Legislative Council of the Colony of New South Wales,
by any Act or Acts to be hereafter passed, to alter the Divisions and
Extent of the several Districts and Towns which shall be represented
in the Legislative Council, and to establish new and other Divisions
of the same, and to alter the Number of Members of the Council
to be chosen by the said Districts and Towns respectively, and to
increase the whole Number of the Legislative Council, and to alter
and regulate the Appointment of Returning Officers in and for
the same, and make Provision in such Manner as they may deem
expedient for the issuing and Return of Writs for the Election of
Members to serve in the said Legislative Council, and the Time and
Place for holding such Elections: Provided always, that such Number
of the additional Councillors as is equal to One Third Part of the
whole Increase, or, if such Increase shall not be exactly divisible
by Three, such whole Number as is next greater than One Third
of the whole Increase, shall be appointed by Her Majesty, and the
remaining additional Members of the Council shall be elected by
the Inhabitants of the Colony in like Manner as the Elective
Members first constituted under this Act.

V. And be it enacted, That the Elective Members shall be chosen
by the Votes of the Electors, each of whom shall be either in his
own Right seised or of entitled to an Estate of Freehold in possession
in Lands or Tenements situate within the District for which such
Vote is to be given, of the clear Value of Two Hundred Pounds
Sterling Money at the least, above all Charges and Incumbrances in
any way affecting the same, or a Householder within such District
occupying a Dwelling House of the clear annual Value of Twenty
Pounds Sterling Money at the least.

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

337

VI. And be it enacted. That no Person shall be entitled to vote at
any such Election as aforesaid unless he be of the full Age of Twenty-
one Years, and a natural-born Subject of the Queen, o? shall ha\'e
been naturalized, or shall hold Letters of Denization, according
to Law ; and that no Person shall be entitled -to vote at any such
Election who shall have been attainted or convicted of any Treason,
Felony, or infamous Offence within any Part of Her Alajesty’s
Dominions, unless he shall have received a free Pardon, or one
conditional on not leaving the Colony, for such Offence, or shall
have undergone the Sentence or Punishment to which he shall
have been adjudged for such offence.

VII. And be it enacted. That no Person shall be entitled to vote
at any such Election as aforesaid unless he shall have been in
possession of the Estate, or in occupancy of the House, by reason
of which he is qualified to vote, for at least Six Calendar JMonths
next before the Date of the Writ for such Election, or, in case a
Registration of Electors shall be established in the Colony, next
before the last Registration of Electors in the District; nor shall any
Person be entitled to vote at any such Election unless at the Time
of such Election or Registration of Electors (as the Case may be)
he shall have paid up all Rates and Taxes which shall have become
payable by him as Owner in respect of such Estate, or as Occupier
in respect of such Occupancy, except such as shall have become
payable during Three Calendar Months next before such Election
or Registration respectively.

VIIL^And be it enacted. That no Person shall be capable of being
elected a Member of the Legislative Council who shall not be of the
full Age of Twenty-one Years, and a natural-born Subject of the
Queen, or naturalized by Law, or who shall not be legally or equit-
ably seised of an Estate of Freehold, for his own Use and Benefit,
in Lands and Tenements in New South Wales of the yearly Value
of One hundred Pounds Sterling Money, or of the Value o^Two
thousand Pounds Sterling Money, above all Charges and Incum-
brances affecting the same.

XII. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by
any Warrant or Warrants to be from Time to Time issued under
Her Majesty’s Sign Manual, and countersigned by One of Her
Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, to nominate such Part of
the said Council as according to this Act is to be appointed by Her
Majesty, and to designate such Non-elective Members of the said
Council either by their proper Names, or as Holders for the Time
being of any public Offices within the said Colony; and it shall
also be lawful for Her Majesty, by any such Warrant or Warrants,
from Time to Time to delegate to the Governor of the said Colony

338 SELECT ffOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

the Power of nominating and designating such Non-elective
hlembers of the said Council, either by their proper Names, or as
Holders fo/the Time being of any such public Offices as aforesaid,
which delegated Power shall nevertheless be exercised by any such
Governor provisionally only, and until Her Majesty’s Pleasure shall
be known, and shall not be exercised until the Return of the Writs
for the Election of all the Elective Members: Provided always,
that not more than Half the Number of such Non-elective Members
shall liold any Office of Emolument under the Grown within the
said Colony.

XIIL And be it enacted, That every Appointment which shall be
made by the Governor of any Non-elective Member of the said
Legislative Council shall be made by Letters Patent to be for
that Purpose issued under the Public Seal of the said Colony.

XIV. And be it enacted, That every Non-elective Member of the
Legislative Council of the Colony of New South Wales shall hold
his Seat therein for Five Years from the Day of his Appointment, or
until the Council shall be sooner dissolved, subject nevertheless to
the Provisions herein-after contained for vacating the same.

XV. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Member of
the Legislative Council of the Colony of New South Wales, by Writing
under his Hand addressed to the Governor, to resign his Seat in
the said Legislative Council, and upon such Resignation the Seat
of such Legislative Councillor shall become vacant.

XXL And be it enacted. That there shall be a Session of the said
Council once at least in every Year, so that a Period of Twelve
Calendar Months shall not intervene between the last Sitting of
the Council in one Session and the first Sitting of the Council in
the next Session, and that every Council shall continue for Five
Years/rom the Day of the Return of the Writs for choosing the same,
and no longer, subject nevertheless to be sooner prorogued or
dissolved by the Governor of the said Colony.

XXIL And be it enacted, That the first Writs for the Election of
Members of the said Council shall issue at some Period not later
than Twelve Calendar Months after the Proclamation of this Act
within the said Colony.

XXIX. And be it enacted, That the Governor of the said Colony
of New South Wales, with the Advice and Consent of the said Legis-
lative Council, shall have Authority to make Laws for the Peace,
Welfare, and good Government of the said Colony: Provided
always, that no such Law shall be repugnant to the Law oi England,
or interfere in any Manner with the Sale or other Appropriation

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY ■ 33:)

of the Lands belonging to the Crown within the said Colony, or
with the Revenue thence arisinsr.

XXX. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for thi Governor
of the said Colony of New South Wales to transmit to the said Council
for its Consideration the Drafts of any such -Laws which it may
appear to such Governor desirable to introduce, and any Amend-
ments which he shall desire to be made in any Bill presented to him
for Her Majesty’s Assent, and such proposed Laws shall thereupon
be considered by the Council in like Manner as if the same "were
Bills which had originated therein; and it shall be lawful for the
Council to return any Bill in which the Governor shall have so made
any Amendments, with a Message signifying to which of the
Amendments the Council agree, and those to which they disagree,
and thereupon the Bill shall be taken to be presented for Her
Majesty’s Assent, with the Amendments so agreed to.

XXXI. And be it enacted. That every Bill which has been passed
by the said Council, and also every Law proposed by the Governor
which shall have been passed by the said Council, whether with or
without Amendments, shall be presented for Her ]Majesty’s Assent
to the Governor of the said Colony, and that the Governor shall
declare according to his Discretion, but subject nevertheless to the
Provisions contained in this Act, and to such Instructions as may
from Time to Time be given in that Behalf by Her Majesty, Her
Heirs or Successors, that he assents to such Bill in Her Majesty’s
Name, or that he withholds Her Majesty’s Assent, or that he reserves
such Bill for the Signification of Her Klajesty’s Pleasure thereon;
and all Bills altering or affecting the Divisions and Extent of the
several Districts and Towns which shall be represented in the
Legislative Council, or establishing new and other Divisions of the
same, or altering the Number of the Members of the Council to
be chosen by the said Districts and Towns respectively, or increasing
the whole Number of the Legislative Council, or altering the SMaries
of the Governor, Superintendent, or Judges, or any of them, and
also all Bills altering or affecting the Duties of Customs upon any
Goods, Wares, or Merchandize imported to or exported from the
said Colony, shall in every Case be so reserved, except such Bills
for temporary Laws as the Governor shall expressly declare neces-
sary to be forthwith assented to by reason of some public and
pressing Emergency.

XXXIL And be it enacted, That whenever any Bill which shall
have been presented for Her Majesty’s Assent to the Governor of
the said Colony shall by such Governor have been assented to in
Her Majesty’s Name, the Governor shall by the first convenient
Opportunity transmit to One of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries

340 SELECT BOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

of State an authentic Copy of such Bill so assented to; and that it
shall be laAvful, at any Time within Two Years after such Bill shall
have been «o received by the Secretary of State, for Her Majesty,
by Order in Council, to declare Her Disallowance of such Bill;
and that such Disallowance, together with a Certificate under the
Hand and Seal of the Secretary of State certifying the Day on which
such Bill was received as aforesaid, being signified by the Governor
to the Legislative Council of the said Colony, by Speech or Message
to the said Council, or by Proclamation in the New South Wdes
Government Gazette, shall make void and annul the same from and
after the Day of such Signification,

XXXIII. And be it enacted, That no Bill which shall be so reserved
for the Signification of Her Majesty’s Pleasure thereon shall have
any Force or Authority within the Colony of New South Wales until
the Governor of the said Colony shall signify, either by Speech or
Message to the Legislative Council of the said Colony, or by
Proclamation, as aforesaid, that such Bill has been laid before
Her Majesty in Council, and that Her Majesty has been pleased to
assent to the same; and that an Entry shall be made in the Journals
of the said Legislative Council of every such Speech, Message, or
Proclamation, and a Duplicate thereof, duly attested, shall be
delivered to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, or other proper
Officer, to be kept among the Record of the said Colony; and that
no Bill which shall be so reserved as aforesaid shall have any Force
or Authority in the said Colony unless Her Majesty’s Assent thereto
shall have been so signified as aforesaid within the space of Two
Years from the Day on which such Bill shall have been presented
for Her Majesty’s assent to the Governor as aforesaid.

[Note: The power to legislate for the electoral system in New South Wales
conferred by ss. II to XI of this Act was used in the Act 6 Viet. No. 16 of 23
February 1843, entitled “An Act to provide for the division of the Colony of
New South Wales into Electoral Districts, and for the election of Members to
serve in the Legislative Council”.]

B. Van Diemen’s Land 1803-42

25, Legal Disabilities in Van- Diemen’s Land. 1788-1810.

(Report of Select Committee on Transportation, p. 8. P.P. 1812,
II, 341.)

It appears proper to Your Committee here to remark, that great
inconveniences are felt in the Colonies in Van Diemen’s Land, from
the want of a Court of Justice. The jurisdiction of the Magistrates
is all that the inhabitants have to look to for their protection against
offenders; and for the settlement of civil differences, they have no
power within the Colony of appealing to the law; all causes and
great offences are removed for trial to Port Jackson, to an inconven-

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY' 341

ience and expense too manifest to need any remark; a Judge
Advocate is already appointed, and the additional expense* to be
incurred by the complete formation of a Court, adirpted to the
male population of that Colony, would not be great.

[Note: This criticism was partly met by the cre?»ion of the Lieuliiiant-
Governor’s Court by the Charter of Justice, 1814.]

26. 'The 1823 Act and Van Diemen’s Land.

{Statutes at Large ^ VoL IX.)

An Act to provide, until the First Day of July One thousand
eight hundred and twenty seven, and until the End of the
next Session of Parliament, for the better Administration of
Justice in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, and for
the more effectual Government thereof; and for other Purposes
relating thereto. 4 Geo. IV. c.96. (19th July 1823.)

[Note: The changes in the judicial system of Van Diemen’s Land are defined
in ss. I-XX of the same Act.]

XLIV. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That in case
it shall at any Time seem fit to His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors,
to constitute and erect the Island of Van Diernen^s Land, and any
Islands, Territories or Places thereto adjacent, into a separate
Colony, independent of the Government of Jsfew South I Tales, it shall
and may be lawful for His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, so to
do, any thing hereinbefore to the contrary contained in any wise
notwithstanding; and in that Case it shall and may be lawful for
His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, by any Order to be by Him
or Them issued, by and with the Advice of His or Their Privy
Council, to commit to any Persons or Person within the said Island
of Van Diemen's Land, and such Islands, Territories or Places as
aforesaid, such and the like Powers, Authorities and Jurisdictions,
as by virtue of this present Act or of any other Act of Parliament are
or may lawfully be committed to any Person or Persons within the
Colony of New South Wales and its Dependencies, from the Judg-
ments, Decrees, Orders and Sentences of the Supreme Court of
Van Dimen's Land, shall cease and determine; and from and after
the rnaldng of any such Order, all Instruments in Writing whereby
any Governor or Acting Governor or Van Diemen's Land, and its
Dependencies, shall remit or shorten the Term or Time of Trans-
portation of any Felons or other Offenders, shall have such and the
like force, effect and virtue in the Law, as any such Instruments
in Writing to be made by any Governor or Acting Governor of
New South Wales and its Dependencies can or may lawfully have by
virtue of the before mentioned Act passed in the Thirtieth Year of
the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, or by virtue
of this present Act.

342 SELECT BfOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

27. Tlie Settlers of Van Diemen’s Land Request Separation
from New Sontli Wales. 1824.

(Enc. in Sftrell to Bathurst, 26 November 1824. III, 4,

pp. 578-8t).)

THE RESPEGTf^L ADDRESS and HUMBLE MEMORIAL
OF THE LANDHOLDERS, MERCHANTS AND OTHER
FREE INHABITANTS OF VAN DIEMEN’S LAND

To tbs Kang’s most excellent Majesty.

May it please your Majesty, . . .

We have viewed also with anxious attention the Consideration
given by your Majesty’s Ministers to the general and individual
Interests of the people of this Island, and have learned with the
liveliest Satisfaction their solicitude on our behalf, as more especially
manifested by the introduction of the Clause in the late Act of
Parliament contemplative of the elevation of this Island to a
separate and independent Colony. . . .

That this Island, originally considered as a mere penal Settlement,
has under the benign auspices of your Majesty’s Government, and
especially during the Administration of Lieutenant Governor
Sorell, progressively advanced in improvement as regards its
internal economy and has attained a corresponding importance
in its external relations.

That the increased tide of Emigration, so wisely directed to its
Shores by your Majesty’s Ministers, and bringing along with it so
considerable an influx of Capital, has infused an active spirit of
agricultural and pastoral improvement, has enlarged the facilities
of Trade, and stimulated commercial enterprize, and must neces-
sarily tend to the rapid developement of the great natural resources
of the Country.

That these resources in some respects almost unlimited are in
generai so important and valuable, as to render the Colonists
entirely independent of any supplies or assistance from New South
Wales, to whose necessities moreover they have happily been able
to administer; whilst the large acquisition of respectable population,
of Capital, and of operative skill, leads them to contemplate a
higher state of Society within themselves, and a comparative
extension of commercial intercourse with other parts of the world,
to the various quarters of which their productions or their Money
have already found their way.

That, although the people of this Island have had to combat with
all the difficulties incident to a new Country, without many of the
aids and facilities enjoyed by the Colonists of New South Wales,
they have nevertheless made proportionably greater advances.
But, as, in Soil Climate and Geographical relation, this Island

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY *

343

essentially differs from that Country, as its present State, moral and
physical, cannot be referred to the same Causes, neither can tiieir
future welfare and prosperity be identified with or proiitt)ted by the
same policy and measures, and which, however applickble and
advantageous they may be to that Settlement^ have been recently
felt alike unsuited to the Condition and prejudicial to the welfare of
this Colony.

And we most humbly submit to your Majesty that the true
Interests of this Colony, its agricultural, pastoral and commercial
prosperity, can be rightly understood, protected and encouraged
only by the observation, experience and solicitude of a resident
Government, acting by wise Counsels and not subject to the
Controul or dependent on the authority of the local Government
of New South Wales.

The deep interest we feel in the stability and future prosperity
of this land of our adoption, we presume to plead with your
Majesty in excuse of this lengthened memorial of our dearest hopes
and wishes, and most respectfully renewing the expression of our
sincere Loyalty and Attachment to your Majesty’s sacred person and
Government, and our heartfelt Gratitude for the Benefits already
conferred upon us through your Majesty’s Grace and favor.

We most humbly pray that your Majesty may be graciously
pleased to take the same into your Royal and Paternal Consideration
and to constitute and erect the island of Van Diemen’s Land into
a separate Colony, independent of the Government of New South
Wales. *

And your Majesty’s Memorialists and dutiful and loyal Subjects,
as in duty bound, shall ever pray, etc., etc., etc.

[103 signatures]

[Note- 1. The decision to make Van Diemen*s Land a separate colony
was announced in an Order in Council of 14 June 1825. This is printed in H.R.A,

III, 4, pp. 304-6. , . ^ t • -1 • ' * A ’

2. The proclamation giving effect to this Order m Council is pnwted m

III, 5, p. 11. ' M r tr

3. For a note on the composition of the first Legislative Council oi Van

Diemen’s Land see H.R.A. III, 5, p. 865.}

28. A Petitioii for Trial by Jury and a House of Assembly.

1827 . . . , ,

(Quoted in E. Sweetman: Australian Constitutional Development,

pp. 394-5.)

I Note; This petition was accepted at a public meetii^ in Hobart on 13 March

1827. There is an account of the meeting in the Hobart Town Gazette lor 17 Marcn
1827 ]

The humble Petition of the Gentry, Merchants, Landholders,
Housekeepers, and other Free Inhabitants of His Majesty’s Colony

344 SELECT iS^OGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
of Van Diemen’s Land, in Public Meeting assembled by the Sheriff,
Most humbly sheweth, —

That ypur Petitioners beg leave to approach your honourable
House, to express their feelings of unshaken loyalty to His Majesty’s
Government, and attachment to your honourable House, in which
feelings, though so far separated from the Mother Country, they
are not surpassed by any class of subjects in any part of His Majesty’s
dominions.

That your Petitioners are desirous of conveying to your
honourable House their expressions of unfeigned gratitude for the
introduction into this Colony of the privileges which have been
conferred, under the Act passed in the fourth year of His Majesty’s
reign, entitled, ‘‘An Act to provide, until the 1st day of July, 1827,
and until the end of the next session of Parliament, for the better
Administration of Justice in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s
Land, and for the more effectual government thereof, and fgr
other purposes relating thereto,” under which Act the Inhabitants
of this Colony have enjoyed greater protection in their persons and
property, by the erection of the Supreme Court of Judicature, and
the partial introduction of Trial by Jury.

That your Petitioners beg most respectfully to impress upon your
honourable House, that your Petitioners are British subjects, and
that they have been accustomed to enjoy all the rights and privileges
of the British Constitution, and whilst your Petitioners express their
gratitude for the creation of the means by #vhich these privileges
have been partially enjoyed, they cannot refrain from conveying
to your honourable House, their most ardent desire for the perfect
introduction of Trial by Jury, and a participation, through their
own Representatives, in making those laws and enactments, which
may be necessary for the future Government of the Colony, or for
the protection and expenditure of its revenue, and although your
honourable House did not consider when the Act was passed to
grant a Legislative Assembly or a Trial by Jury, your Petitioners
now cherish the hope, that the time is arrived when your Petitioners
are not only fit to enjoy such benefits, but that your honourable
House will be pleased to grant them.

That your Petitioners beg to remind your honourable House,
that the Colony of Van Diemen’s Land was not acquired by
conquest, and that it is, with the sister Colony of New South Wales,
unlike any other of His Majesty’s Plantations, inasmuch as it is a
British Colony, entirely peopled by Britons, and, governed by British
Law alone.

That although the Juries in the Criminal Court, composed of
seven British Officers, and though two Magistrates as assessors in
the Civil Court, may have acted in every instance with integrity.

CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY

345

yet your Petitioners, admiring the British Constitution, cannot
consider themselves secure or happy under any Institutions which
may be offered as a substitute for them, which are r?ot only the
pride and birth-right, but also the safeguard of every Briton — Trial
by Jury and Legislation by Representation. ^

These, the earnest wishes and desires of your humble Petitioners,
they submit to your honourable House, in full confidence that
their importance and necessity will obtain that share of consideration
from your honourable House which they merit; and from the
experience which your Petitioners have had of the paternal regard
and solicitude of your honourable House for the prosperity and
happiness of His Majesty’s subjects, your Petitioners entertain the
confident hope, that your honourable House will not withhold from
this Colony of Van Diemen’s Land blessings so dear and valuable.
And your Petitioners will ever pray, etc.

29. The Secretary of State Explains the Decision not to
Establish an Elective Conncil in Van Diemen’s Land.. 1842.

(Stanley to Franklin, 5 September 1842. Quoted in E. Sweetman:
Australian Constitutional Development^ p. 398.)

I transmit to you herewith a copy of an Act “for the Government
of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land,” [i.e. the Act 5 & 6
Viet. C.76] which has passed in the recent Session of Parliament.

You will perceive that the effect of the Act, so far as relates to
Van Diemen’s Land, is to continue the Acts under which it is at
present governed, although as regards New South Wales, it provides
for the constitution of a Legislative Council, partly on the principle
of elective representation, and partly on that of Government
nomination, a difference to which I advert, for the purpose of
explaining to you distinctly, that the sole reason for which Her
Majesty’s Government have not felt justified in proposing to
Parliament the extension to Van Diemen’s Land of a similar* form
of legislation, is the incompatibility which they consider to exist
between the grant of such a form of constitution and the continuance
of transportation to the colony; a reason which they are led, by the
tenor of your despatch, No. 158, of the 3rd January, 1839, confident-
ly to hope, will meet with the assent of the majority of its influential
inhabitants.

C. Western Australia, 1829-50

30. The First Constitution of Western Australia. 1829.

(Statutes at Large, Vol. XI.)

An Act to provide until the Thirty-first Day of December One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, for the Government

346 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

of His Majesty’s Settlements in Western Australia^ on the

Western Coast of New Holland. 10 Geo. IV. c.22.

(14th May "'l 829.)

Whereas divers of His Majesty’s Subjects have, by the Licence
and Consent of His" Majesty, effected a Settlement upon certain
wild and unoccupied Lands on the Western Coast of New Holland
and the Islands adjacent, which Settlements have received and
are known by the Name of Western Australia: And Whereas it is
necessary to make some temporary Provision for the Civil Govern-
ment of the said Settlement, until the said Undertaking shall be
further matured, and the Number of Colonists in the said Settlements
increased; Be it therefore enacted by the King’s most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual
and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled,
and by the Authority of the same. That it shall and may be lawful
for His Klajesty, His Heirs and Successors, by any Order or Orders
to be by Him or them made, with the Advice of His or their Privy
Council, to make, ordain, and (subject to such Conditions and
Restrictions as to Him or them shall seem meet) to authorize and
empower any Three or more Persons resident and being within the
said Settlements to make, ordain, and establish all such Laws,
Institutions, and Ordinances, and to constitute such Courts and
Officers, as may be necessary for the Peace, Order, and good
Government of His Majesty’s Subjects and others within the said
Settlements; provided that all such Orders in Council, and all
Laws and Ordinances so to be made as aforesaid, shall be laid before
both Houses of Parliament as soon as conveniently may be after
the making and Enactment thereof respectively; Provided also,
that no Part of the Colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen'' s
Land, as at present established, shall be comprized within the said
New Colony or Settlements of Western Australia.

11. And be it further enacted. That this Act shall continue in force
until the Thirty-first Day of December One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-four, and thence forward until the End of the then next
ensuing Session of Parliament, and no longer.

31. The Secretary of State Explains the Constitution of

Western Australia. 1831.

(Goderich to Stirling, 28 April 1831. Swan River Papers No. 11,
pp. 56-64.)

[Note: The instructions to Governor Stirling, referred to in this dispatch,
are printed in Section 2, H, 54 of this volume.]

Referring to my accompanying despatch of this date, No. 1 for
the various instructions which I have found it necessary to issue

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 347

for your guidance respecting the general administration of the
affairs of His Majesty’s Settlements in Western Australia, I shall
in my present despatch, confine myself to those subjects of a
Judicial or Legal nature to which you called my attention in vour
despatch of the 18th of October last, as well in your preceding
despatches of the 20th and 30th January, 1830.

I have the honor herewith to enclose a copy of the Statute 10th
Geo. 4th cap. 22 — passed for enabling His Alajesty by the advice
of His Privy Council, to make and to authorize any three or more
Persons to make all necessary Laws, and to constitute all necessary
Courts for the peace, order and good Government of His Majesty’s
subjects within those Settlements —

The Order of the King in Council dated the 1 of Novr. last, a
copy of which is also enclosed, executes the Powers of this Act
of Parliament, by enabling the Governor, the Senior IMilitary
Officer next in Command, the Colonial Secretary, the Surveyor
General, and the Advocate General to discharge the several
functions entrusted by the Act of Parliament to the Persons to whom
reference is there made — In the execution of those Powers, the
Persons in question are required to conform themselves to the
various Regulations contained in the Order and in your Commission
and Instructions, under His Majesty’s Sign Manual. — I trust that
you will find little difiiculty in distinctly apprehending the effect
of those Instructions.

You will perceive that the Individuals, who, under the Act of
Parliament and Order in Council are constituted a Legislative
Council, are also appointed by the second article of your Instruc-
tions, Executive Councillors for your assistance in the administration
of the Government. It may be proper to notice that Western
Australia being a Territory acquired by mere right of occupancy,
and not by conquest, the King’s Subjects residing there are, by a
general principle of Law, entitled to all the Rights and Privileges
of British Subjects and carry with them the Law of their Native
Country, so far as it is applicable to their new situation & circum-
stances — I advert to this general maxim in explanation of the
reasons which have led to the institution of two separate Councils,
deriving their authority from two distinct sources — ^The KLing,
in virtue of His Prerogative, has established in Western Australia,
as in other Colonies, an Executive Council of which the Privy
Council in England is the Type or Model — But the Royal Authority
was not competent to the creation of a Legislature except by
Popular Representation, nor to the Establishment of Courts
constituted on different principles from those of W estminster Hall
— The Colony not being yet ripe for Institutions of this nature,
it was necessary to invoke the aid of Parliament to render legal the

348 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Establishment of a Legislature, and Tribunals of a more simple,
though less popular character.

You will therefore understand that although the Individuals
composing the two Councils are the same, yet that the two Bodies
must be regarded as separate, and that, in order to mark the
distinction, separate Minutes should be kept of the Proceedings
of the Council w^hen acting in its Legislative and in its Executive
capacity.

32. Some of the Settlers of Western Australia sum up their
History. 1829-46.

(Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal^ 2 January 1847.)

To the Right Honourable THE LORD STANLEY,

Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Colonies &c. &c. &c.

The humble memorial of the undersigned Land Owners,
Merchants and Inhabitants of the Colony of Western Australia,
respectfully sheweth —

That, Her Majesty’s Ministers for the time being having founded
this Colony in 1 829, upon certain principles which were considered
advantageous to settlers, thereby caused a considerable number of
capitalists to emigrate hither, upon the faith of those principles
being adhered to by the Home Government.

That, through mismanagement, inexperience, and ignorance
of the seasons, great numbers of the early settlers lost or expended
the greater part of their capital, before they were able so to invest
it, as to live upon the interest or produce thereof; but that from the
year 1838 to the beginning of 1841, after struggling with unparal-
leled difficulties, they began to surmount the evils which had
encompassed them, and entertained a reasonable hope that the
then steadily increasing influx of emigrants would prove the means
of imparting a sound marketable value to land, stock and other
property, and thus ultimately realise the hopes of the original
settlers.

That, after the formation of the Colony, and prior to the year
1841, Her Majesty’s Government thought proper to raise the price
of Grown Lands in this Colony, first from 1 .6d an acre (their full
value) to 5s. subsequently to i2s. and ultimately to ^1 per acre;
in consequence of which the sale of Crown Lands has entirely
ceased, and the fund which had been formerly produced from this
source and was made applicable to the introduction of labour,
no longer existed. The introduction of labour therefore ceased,
and as the principle upon which the colony was founded (of granting
land to those who introduced capital and labor) was no longer acted
upon, the immigration of both capitalists and laborers ceased
simultaneously.

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

349

Thai, from the cessation of the influx of capital and labor, the
settlers of this colony, whose full exertions for many years were
necessarily confined to producing the means of their support,
have been entirely disabled from extending those operations so as
to produce a sufficient amount of Exports to counterbalance the
drain which has been made upon the specie of"* the Colony by the
introduction of necessary Imports.

That, emigration has now commenced from this Colony to the
other Australian Colonies, and that there is great reason to appre-
hend this evil will shortly become of serious magnitude and
importance.

That, the scarcity of labor which is now to be apprehended, will
necessarily advance the rate of wages, curtail the operations of the
agriculturist and flock owner, reduce the quantity of land which
has been annually brought into cultivation, arrest the increase
of our flocks and herds, and of all other sources of wealth, and
enhance the price of provisions and other necessaries to those whose
means of procuring them are rapidly diminishing.

That, the state of things to which your Klemorialists have
thus referred, has for some time past had the effect of depriving
land and other property of any marketable value; the want of
money necessarily precluding the possibility of purchasing; and
the want of confidence in the intrinsic value of property preventing
all disposition to purchase.

That, there appears under existing circumstances no probability
of the future arrival in this Colony, to any extent, of the combined
essentials to prosperity — capital and labor — unless sufficient induce-
ment be again held forth to Emigrants.

That, Your Memorialists most respectfully entreat your Lordship
and Her Majesty’s Ministers to consider the importance of this
Colony to the British Empire, from its geographical position, and
from its inexhaustible stores of ship timber, as well as its other
resources ; that, from its position in time of war it would be highly
desirable, both for the honor of the Crown, as well as, perhaps, for
the security of Her Majesty’s Eastern Possessions that this Colony
should become a populous and powerful settlement; whereas at
present a single frigate would be sufficient to wrest the Territory
from the British Empire.

That, your Memorialists and the early settlers of this Colony
have been long averse from the necessity of making it a Penal
Settlement for Convicts; and that if any other remedy for the
evils under which they suffer might be obtained, they would be
strenuously opposed to such a measure; but, that unless^ Her
Majesty’s Government will reduce the price of land to its original
standard, and resume the principle upon which this Colony was

350 SELEGT^DOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

founded, (and act upon that principle judiciously and not lavishly
— as was formerly the case), or will devise some other expedient
as shall c^use the reintroduction of capital and labor, your Memor-
ialists conceive that this colony must become absolutely useless to
the British Crown, an incumbrance upon the Empire, and ruinous
to those individual who have been led to embark in it the whole
of their fortunes, under an erroneous belief that the British Govern-
ment would abide by those principles of colonization which alone
give^ confidence and hope to the Emigrant.

That, if her Majesty’s Government refuse to accede to these
suggestions, your Memorialists will be obliged to admit that the
only probability which then remains of giving a marketable value
to land and other property in this Colony — of attracting to it a
fresh influx of settlers, and even of inducing the majority of the
present settlers to remain in the Territory — is to be found in
the hope that Her Majesty’s Government may be induced to convert
the Colony into a Penal Settlement on an extensive scale.

That, the distance of the pastoral districts from the coast, and the
sandy nature of the soil between the coast and the Darling Range
of Hills, render the formation of good roads most necessary, and at
the same time most expensive, and perhaps only to be accomplished
by convict labor; that it is also only by convict labor that the port
and harbor may be improved — bridges, wharfs, jetties, lighthouses,
and other public works, be constructed — facilities for the advantag-
eous establishment of a Timber trade secured — and an inland
market guaranteed for agricultural and pastoral productions.

Your Memorialists therefore humbly pray, that if Her Majesty’s
Ministers shall refuse to re-adopt those measures which have been
respectfully suggested or referred to in this Memorial, and the
value of which was just beginning to be felt at the time when the
inducements to immigrants were withdrawn, or to devise some other
good and speedy measure of relief — they will bf: pleased to advise
Her Majesty at as early a date as possible, to make and declare this
Colony A PENAL SETTLEMENT UPON AN EXTENSIVE
SCALE. WESTERN AUSTRALIA, FEBRUARY 1846.

33. Western Australia and Representative Government. 1849.

(Report of the Committee of Her Majesty’s Privy Council for
Trade and Plantations on the subject of the proposed Bill for the
separation of Port Phillip from New South Wales, and the exten-
sion of representative institutions to Van Diemen’s Land and
South Australia, p. 35. Papers relative to the proposed Alterations
in the Constitution of the Australian Colonies. P.P. 1849, XXXV,
1074.)

We are of opinion that the time has not yet arrived for conferring

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

351

this franchise on the colonists of Western Australia, because they
are unable to fulfil the condition on which alone, as it appears to
us, such a grant ought to be made the condition, thatis, o^sustaining
the expence of their own civil government by means of the local
revenue, which would be placed under the direction and control
of their representatives. Whenever the settlers ill W'estern Australia
shall be willing and able to perform this condition, they ought, we
apprehend, to be admitted to the full enjoyment of the corres-
ponding franchises, but not till then.

34. The Australian Colonies’ Government Act and Western
Australia. 1850.

(Grey to Fitzgerald, 13 September 1850. Further Papers Relative
to the Alterations in the Constitutions of the Australian Colonies,
p. 60. P.P. 1851, XXXV, 1303.)

The provisions of section 9, which apply to the colony under
your government, have been framed entirely in accordance with the
Report of the Committee of Her Majesty’s Privy Council, which
has been already communicated to you. As they are wholly of a
prospective nature it is unnecessary for me to do more than direct
your attention to them, and invite any suggestions which you may
think proper to address me on the subject. Her Majesty’s Govern-
ment will receive the intelligence with much pleasure w^henever the
inhabitants of the colony shall feel willing to take on themselves the
duties of self-government, with the increased burdens which these
provisions contemplate. .

The following section [10] was introduced in its present shape
on account of a doubt suggested whether the Temporary Act,
10 Geo. IV., c.22, and continuing Acts had not so completely
expired that not only the power of the Queen to appoint new
Legislative Councillors was at an end, but also the po^v^er of the
existing Council itself. Although not sharing in their doubt I thought
it advisable to cause words to be inserted sufficiently large to"»cure
any such supposed invalidity.

D. South Australia, 1834-42

35. The First Constitution of South Australia. 1834.

[Note: For the Act creating the first constitution of South Australia see
Section 4, G, 35 of this volume.]

36. The First Amendments in the South Australian Constit-
ution. 1838.

{Statutes at Large, Vol. XIV.)

An Act to amend an Act of the Fourth and Fifth Years of His
late Majesty, empowering His Majesty to erect South Australia

352 SELECT^^'DOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

into a Brituh Province or Provinces. 1 and 2 Viet. c.60.

31st July 1838.)

And wlfereas Doubts have arisen as to the Extent of the Powers
vested in the said Colonization Commissioners for South Australia
by the said Act, and it is expedient that such Powers should be more
clearly defined, and that the Provisions of the said Act should be
amended in manner herein-after mentioned: And whereas it is in
and by the said Act provided, that it should be lawful for His
IMafesty, His Heirs and Successors, with the Advice of His or Their
Pri\y Council, to authorize and empower such Persons as therein
mentioned to make, ordain, and establish Laws, Institutions, and
Ordinances, and to constitute Courts, and to appoint Officers,
Chaplains, and Clergymen, and to levy Rates, Duties, and Taxes
as therein mentioned : Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual
and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled,
and by the Authority of the same, That the aforesaid Powers and
Authorities shall be and the same are hereby repealed ; and in lieu
thereof it shall and may be lawful for Her Majesty, Her Heirs and
Successors, by any Order or Orders to be by Her or Them made,
with the Advice of Her or Their Privy Council, to make, ordain,
and by Warrants under Her or Their Sign Manual (subject to such
Conditions and Restrictions as to Her or Them shall seem meet)
to authorize and empower any Three or more Persons resident and
being within the said Province to make, ordain, and establish all
such Laws, Institutions, or Ordinances, and to constitute such
Courts, and to impose and levy such Rates, Duties, and Taxes
as may be necessary for the Peace, Order, and good Government
of Her Majesty’s Subjects and others within the said province;
provided that all such Orders, and all Laws and Ordinances so
to be made as aforesaid, shall be laid before the Queen in Council
as SQ,on as conveniently may be after the making and enacting
thereof respectively, and that the same shall not in anywise be
contrary or repugnant to any of the Provisions of the said recited
Act or of this Act.

37. Some of the Settlers of South Australia Petition for

Representation on the Legislative Council. 1839.

(App. to Report from Select Committee on South Australia, pp.
283-5. P.P. 1841, IV, 394.)

The Memorial of the undersigned Magistrates, Merchants,
Landholders, and Inhabitants of the Province of South Australia^
adopted unanimously at a Public Meeting of the Colonists held
at the Court House, in Adelaide, on Thursday, the 19th day of
December 1839. . . .

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

353

The memorialists express their firm conviction that unless the
recommendation which they have now respectfully laid before
Her Majesty’s Government be adopted at the earliest possi^ile period,
the future prosperity of the colony will be materially r-etarded,
even if more serious consequences be avoided.

The memorialists now beg leave to submit t?> the consideration
of Her Majesty’s Government another subject which they belie\'e
essential alike to the reasonable satisfaction of the colonists and to
the good government of the province.

The memorialists, indeed, trust that their application for a non-
official extension of the Legislative Council requires only to be
preferred, to receive the favourable consideration of Her Majest\'’s
Government, and that what has been so liberally granted to Swan
River, with a population of 2,500 souls, will not be refused to South
Australia, with a population now exceeding 10,000 and in the course
of daily and rapid increase.

At present the memorialists have no recognised means of
making their views and feelings known in the Legislative Council,
and are besides subject to a power which, however considerately
and conscientiously exercised, is irresponsible to the colonists, and
is not merely repugnant to the well-understood principles of the
English constitution, but existing, the memorialists believe, in no
other colony of the British Crown subject to the imposition of taxes.

The memorialists trust that Her hlajesty’s Government will
not consider premature or unreasonable their request to have a
sufficient control over the expenditure of monies arising from
taxation levied on the colonists, or that the commercial, agricultural,
pastoral, and general interests of the province should be fairly
represented in the Legislative Council, but that, on the contrary,
their request should be freely complied with, under such regulations
as may be deemed expedient.

Two points only the memorialists submit as essential to the peace
and good government of the pro\ince; namely,

First, That the non-official Members shall be the freely elected
representatives of the colonists ; and,

Second, That in the event of any law being opposed unanimously
by the non-official Members of the Council, it shall not take
effect within the province until it has received the sanction
of Her Majesty. [441 signatures]

38. The Opinion of the British Parliamentary Committee on
the Constitution of South Australia. 1841.

(Second Report from Select Committee on South Australia, pp.
x-xi. RR 1841, IV, 394.)

Your Committee have further taken into consideration the exped-

354 SELEGT^DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

iency of introducing a popular element into the future Legislative
Council of South Australia by the addition to it of certain unofficial
Members,^ elected by the inhabitants, a measure which is urged in
a Memorial adopted at a Public Meeting of the Magistrates in
December 1839 [f^r an extract from this see the preceding docu-
ment], and reconimended, with certain conditions, by Colonel
Gawler, and by the South Australian Commissioners. By the 23rd.
section of the first South Australian Act, authority was given to the
Crown, with the consent of the Privy Council, to grant a constitution
of Local Government to the Colony, on the Population amounting
to 50,000. Your Committee do not think it advisable that this
provision should be re-enacted ; but, as they are of opinion that it
may be expedient at an early period to grant to the Inhabitants of
the Colony a control over its Revenue and Expenditure, by the
infusion of the element of Popular Representation into the Local
Legislature, they would recommend that in the Act for the future
government of the Colony, Her Majesty should be authorized,
with the consent of Her Privy Council, to carry this principle into
effect. They think, however, that the propriety of adopting such
a measure will mainly depend on the capability of the Colony at
the time to provide for its own Expenditure; and they deem it
indispensable, that before such a change should be effected,
permanent provision should be made for certain fixed and definite
Expenses on account of the Civil Government of the Colony.

39. The Act of 1842.

{Statutes at Large, Vol. XVI.)

[Note: The power conferred by s. 6 of this Act to elect an Assembly was
never used. From 1843 to 1850 South Australia was governed by the Governor
and a Council of seven, four of whom were non-official members. See the next
document.]

An Act to provide for the better Government South Australia.

5 & 6 Viet. C.6L (30th July 1842.)

WHEREAS an Act was passed in the Fifth Year of the Reign
of His late Majesty, intituled An Act to Empower His Majesty to ereot
South Australia into a British Province or Provinces, arid to provide
for the Colonization and Government thereof: And whereas an Act was
passed in the Second Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty,
intituled An Act to amend an Act of the Fourth and Fifth Tears of His
late Majesty, empowering His Majesty to erect South Australia into a
British Province or Provinces: And whereas it is expedient that the
said Acts should be repealed, and that Provision should be made for
the better Government of the said Colony; be it therefore enacted
by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice
and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons,

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

355

in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the
same, That the said Acts shall be repealed.

IV. And be it enacted, That no Person or Persons convicted in any
Court of Justice in Great Britain or Ireland, or elsAvhere, shall at any
Time, or under any Circumstances, be transported as a Convict
to any Place within the said Province.

V. And be it enacted. That it shall be lawful for Her IMajesty, by
any Commission or Commissions to be by Her Majesty from Time
to Time issued under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom,
or by any Instructions under Her Majesty’s Signet and" Sign
Manual, to be from Time to Time issued with the Advice of Her
Majesty’s Privy Council, to constitute within the said Colony a
Legislative Council, consisting of the Governor and of Seven other
Persons at the least, which Legislative Council shall be authorized
to make Laws for the Peace, Order, and good Government of the
said Colony; and it shall be lawful for Her IMajesty, by any such
Commission or Commissions or Instructions as aforesaid, either
to appoint such Councillors by Name, or otherwise to provide for
the Selection and Appointment of them, as to Her Majesty shall
seem meet; and it shall also be lawful for Her Majesty, in manner
aforesaid, to prescribe all such Rules and Orders as to Her Majesty
shall seem meet respecting the Tenure of the Offices of such Coun-
cillors, and respecting the Course and Manner of Proceeding to
be by the said Legislative Council observed in the Enactment of
Laws, and respecting the Transmission of such Laws for the
Confirmation or Disallowance of Her Majesty, or the Reservation
of them for the Signification of Her Majesty’s Pleasure, and respect-
ing the Effect of any such Disallowance or Reservation, all which
Rules and Orders shall, within the said Colony, have the Force
and Effect of Law, until the same shall have been revoked or altered
by Her Majesty in manner aforesaid.

VI. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by
any such Commission or Commissions or Instructions as aforesaid,
to convene a General Assembly, to be elected by the Freeholders and
other Inhabitants of the said Colony, in such and the same Manner
as if this Act and the said recited Acts had not been passed, and to
authorize the Governor for the Time being of the said Colony,
with the Advice and Consent of the said General Assembly, and
of a Legislative Council, to be by Her Majesty for that Purpose
appointed, to make Laws for the Peace, Order, and good Govern-
ment of the said Colony, or it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, in
manner aforesaid, to constitute a General Assembly, for the Purposes
aforesaid, consisting of a single House of General Assembly alone,

356 SELECT ^documents in AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

which one House of General Assembly shall be composed, in such
Proportions as to Her Majesty may seem meet, of Members to be
nominated, by Her Majesty, and of other Members to be elected
by suchr Freeholders or other Inhabitants; and it shall be lawful
for Her Majesty, by any such Commission or Commissions or
Instructions as afofesaid, to establish such Rules and Orders as to
Her Majesty shall seem meet for the Nomination or Election of the
Members of the said General Assembly, as the Case may be, and
to determine how and where such Election shall be holden, and
for that Purpose to divide or to provide for the Division of the said
Colony into Electoral Districts, and to determine what shall be the
Qualification of the Persons so to be elected, and of the Voters at
any such Elections, and to regulate all other Things for which it
may be expedient to provide, in order to the Meeting of any such
General Assembly; and it shall also be lawful for Her Majesty,
by any such Commission or Instructions as aforesaid, to reserve to
the Governor of the said Colony the exclusive Right of initiating
all Votes of public Money in such General Assembly, and to
establish ail such Rules and Orders in reference to any Laws to
be made by the said General Assembly as are herein-before
mentioned in reference to any Laws to be made by the said
Legislative Council.

XL And be it enacted, That in the event of any such General
Assembly being so convened as aforesaid it shall be lawful for
Her Majesty, by any such Commission or Commissions or Instruc-
tions as aforesaid, to reserve and set apart from Her Majesty’s
Revenue arising within the said Colony such an annual Sum of
Money, by way of Civil List, as may be necessary for the Maintenance
and Support of the Civil Government and the Administration of
Justice within the said Colony, provided that the same shall in no
CaseTexceed the annual Sum or Sums that shall have been previously
assigned for the said Purposes by the Legislative Council aforesaid,
by and with the Approbation and Consent of Her Majesty, and
likewise such further annual Sum or Sums of Money as shall be
required for Payment of the Interest or Annuities herein provided
for, or any Portion thereof, or the Interest on any such Debenture
or Debentures as aforesaid that may be issued under the Provisions
of this Act, and which said several Sums shall be reserved, issued,
and applied, at such Time or Times, and in such Order and Manner,
as Her Majesty shall by such Commission or Instructions authorise
and direct.

XI L And be it enacted, That this Act shall come into force and
take effect within the said Colony from a Day to be for that

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 35/

Purpose appointed by the Governor of the said Colony, by a
Proclamation to be by him for that Purpose issued, which Time
shall not be more than One Calendar iXIonth after the Receipt
by such Governor of a Copy of this Act.

XIII. And be it enacted. That within the hlec^hing of this present
Act any Person lawfully administering the Government of the said
Colony shall be taken to be the Governor thereof.

XIV. And be it enacted. That this Act may be amended or repealed
by any Act to be passed in this Session of Parliament.

40. The Secretary of State Explains the Act of 1842.

(Stanley to Grey, 6 September 1842. Despatches from the Colonial
Office, 1840-60. South Australian Archives.)

. . . You will perceive that the first section repeals altogether the
two former Acts; and with the repeal of those Acts, the authority
ceases under which the Board of South Australian Commissioners,
and the Resident Commissioner in the colony, exercised their
functions.

The fifth section empowers Her Majesty to establish a form of
legislature similar to those which have hitherto been in force in all
the Australian Colonies, except in South Australia; and, Her
Majesty having been pleased to exercise that power, I enclose
additional instructions under the Royal Sign Manual, constituting
such a Council.

For the present this form of Council has appeared to Her
Majesty’s Government best suited to the wants and the condition
of the colony. They concur, however, in the view taken in the
Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, that it may
be expedient at an early period to grant to the inhabitants of the
colony a certain degree of control over its revenue and expenditure,
by the infusion of the element of popular representation into the
local legislature. The period at which it may be desirable to intro-
duce such a change in the constitution must depend upon the
advance made by the colony in wealth and population; and you
will observe that the Act leaves to Her Majesty the exercise of an
unfettered discretion in this respect; but, I think it right to add that
Her Majesty’s Government concur in the opinion which seems to
have been entertained by the Committee, that, before taking such
a step, it should be made evident that the internal resources of the
colony are fully adequate to provide for its own expenditure; and
also that permanent provision should be made for certain fixed
and definite expenses, on account of the civil Government of the
colony.

358 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

E. The Separation of Port Phillip, 1840-50

41. Petition by the Six Representatives of the District of
Port PMllip for Separation. 1844.

{Enc. in Gipps to S^nley, 12 January 1845. H.R.A, I, 24, pp. 190-5.)

[Note: 1. This was not the first petition for separation. For the petition of
June 18-10 see the Port Phillip Patriot of 11 June 1840.

2. For a comment on this petition see Gipps to Stanley, 29 April 1846, H.R.A.
I, 25,^ pp. 26-33. For the discussion of the petition by the Executive Council
of N.§.\V. see Minutes of the Executive Council, Government House, Sydney,
\ oi. VIL]

x4.DDRESS To the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty.

Most Gracious Sovereign,

We, your Majesty’s loyal and dutiful subjects, the undersigned
^Members of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, represent-
ing the entire District of Port Phillip, beg leave to approach your
Majesty with the assurance of our cordial attachment to your
Majesty’s Royal Person and Government.

We humbly solicit permission to represent to your Majesty that,
in our deliberate opinion, the District of Port Phillip, which at
present constitutes the Southern portion of the Colony of New South
\Vales, is peculiarly fitted as well from its superficial extent, its
geographical position and its other physical characteristics, as from
the amount, respectability and intelligence of its population, from
its entire isolation from all other Colonial communities, and from
the comparatively high state of general advancement which it
has so speedily attained, for being a separate and independent
Colony. . . .

From these physical characteristics of the District, your Majesty
will perceive that the Colonists of Port Phillip are entirely isolated
from those of the middle or Sydney District of New South Wales,
as mi^ch so as they are from those of Van Diemen’s Land or Southern
Australia. The community of Port Phillip, we beg leave to add,
already comprises upwards of twenty five thousand souls, and is
possessed of two millions of Sheep, one hundred and forty thousand
horned cattle, and five thousand horses, besides a very large amount
of other valuable property in Vessels, Buildings and cultivated
Land; The ordinary Revenue of the District for the year 1843
having amounted to 1,343 14s. and 8d. while the imports for
that year amounted to ;^183,321, and the Exports to ^277,672.

In Such circumstances as this extraordinary development of
the natural resources of the District implies, we humbly submit
to your Majesty whether the District of Port Phillip is not fully
and fairly entitled to the rank and position of a separate and indepen-
dent Colony, and whether the compulsory union of that District

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

359

with New South Wales proper, from* the capital of which its own
commercial capital and natural outlet is six hundred miles distant,
is not as unreasonable in itself as it is unjust to the Inllkbitants of
Port Phillip, and opposed to the whole tenour and practice of
British Colonization. For we beg to remind our iMajesty that
Port Phillip was originally settled not from New South Wales, but
from Van Diemen’s Land, the whole southern coast of this vast
island having lain waste and unoccupied for nearly half a century
after the original Settlement of New South Wales; and we humbly
Submit that it is accordant with the uniform practice of )'our
Majesty’s predecessors, whenever separate and distinct Colonial
communities capable of self Government have in any instance been
formed within the nominal limits of any particular Colonial
Territory, to erect Such communities into Separate and independent
Colonies although of much more limited extent, and far less
favorably circumstanced for the purpose than that of Port Phillip. . , .

We humbly beg moreover to Submit to your Majesty that the
necessity for the erection of Port Phillip into a Separate Colony,
altogether independent of New South Wales, has already been
virtually acknowledged by the Imperial Government, Port Phillip
having all along had a Superintendent, a Resident Judge, and
various other offices and Establishments to be found in no other
Subordinate District of the Colony. And, while this subordinate
inefficient and unsatisfactory Government costs the Inhabitants
;^44,748 Os. 3d. per Annum for a population of 25,000, the Govern-
ment of the neighbouring Colony of South Australia, with a
population precisely similar in its origin and pursuits, costs the
inhabitants only ^^25,000 per annum for a population of 18,000,
thereby demonstrating that it is not true, as is commonly alleged
by those who are opposed to the separating of Port Phillip from
New South Wales, that the Government of that District as a
Separate and independent Colony would necessarily be much
more expensive than it is at present.

But the great practical grievance of which the Inhabitants of
Port Phillip universally and in our opinion justly complain, as the
result of the compulsory union of that District with the Colony
of New South Wales, is the annual abstraction of a large portion
of the proper Revenue of the District, and its appropriation under
the authority of the Legislative Council for purposes and objects
in which the Inhabitants of Port Phillip can have no interest nor
concern, thereby retarding indefinitely the general advancement
of the District, and the progressive development of its vast resources.
For we beg to remind your Majesty that Port Phillip, has not only
never cost either the Mother Country or New South Wales one
farthing for its establishment or support; but a Surplus of 176,000

360 SELECT ‘Documents in Australian history

of its land revenue, over and above the payment of the whole amount
of immigration into Port Phillip, has gone into the general Revenue
of the Colhny, and been appropiated for the encouragement and
support ^'of immigration into New South Wales proper; while
the estimated ordij^^ary Revenue of the District for the year 1845
exceeds the estimated expenditure for that year by no smaller an
amount than 19,000, or thereby. It will thus appear to your
Majesty that, although a representative System of Government
has so far been conceded to the Colony of New South Wales,
that concession, as far as the inhabitants of Port Phillip are
concerned, is a mere mockery and delusion, the only Service,
which the Six Members for that District can under existing circum-
stances render to their constituents in a financial point of view,
being to assist in legalizing the Annual and unwarrantable abstrac-
tion of 19,000 per annum of their proper Revenue, under the
authority of the general Legislature. In Such circumstances, Your
Majesty will not be Surprised at the Strenuous opposition, which
all the other Members of the Legislative Council save one have
hitherto exhibited towards the Separation of Port Phillip; for,
so long as it is the interest of five-Sixths of the Members of that
Body to retain Port Phillip in a State of vassalage and dependence
under New South Wales, it is hopeless to expect either financial
justice for that District from the General Legislature, or a recom-
mendation of its erection into a separate and independent Colony.

But your Majesty will, doubtless, perceive that the case of Port
Phillip is one really deserving of your Majesty’s interference on
behalf of the inhabitants of that District on another and Still higher
ground, when we add that, although Port Phillip is allowed to
return six representative members to the Colonial Legislature,
not one of the six members actually returned is a resident in the
Distinct ... it has been found impracticable to obtain the Services
of a Single resident proprietor or inhabitant of the District for the
purpose, Men of the requisite intelligence and ability being either
unable or unwilling to absent themselves from their families and
establishments for five months Successively every year to attend
the Meetings of a Colonial Legislature at the distance of six or
eight hundred miles from their usual places of residence. . . . Nor is
this the only evil to which our constituents are Subjected from the
great distance of Port Phillip, and especially of the Western portion
of that District, from the seat of Government, for as gentlemen
of the requisite Standing in Society in that portion of the Territory
cannot be expected to attend the Meetings of the Select Committees
of the Legislative Council to give evidence in regard to its actual
circumstances and more pressing wants, the business of Legislation,

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 361

as far as the interests of the District are concerned, is conducted
in great measure in the dark.

On these grounds, we humbly pray tliat your Majesty will be
graciously pleased to take the case of our Constituents into your
Majesty’s favorable consideration, and to order that the requisite
Steps may be taken for effecting the entire^ Separation of the
District of Port Phillip from New South Wales, and for its erection
into a Separate and independent Colony.

B. BOYD ADOLPHUS WM. YOUNG

THOS. WALKER JOHN DUNMORE LANG

CHARLES NICHOLSON JNO. PHELPS ROBINSON

(M.G. for Melbourne)

42- The Case Against Separation. 1841.

(The Sydney Heraldy 6 February 1841.)

Summary of Arguments Used at the Public Meeting Against

Dismembering the Colony.

[Note: This meeting was held at the Mechanics’ School of Arts, Pitt Street,
on Thursday, 4 February 1841, to consider the propriety of petitioning both
houses of Parliament against the proposed tri-section of the colony. For this
see A. G. V. Melbourne: Early Constitutional Development in Australia, pp. 254-6.]

From the very full report, which we have given in another part
of to-day’s paper, the arguments used by the different speakers
may be seen at length; but we have deemed it advisable to present
these very briefly in the following summary.

1. The threatened dismemberment of the Colony would render
insecure and will soon ultimately abolish squatting or depasturing
under government licenses, in as much as by the special survey
system, a stock-station, however valuable, might be broken up
on the shortest notice. This would of course be ruinous to the fiock-
masters, who may have invested large capital in depasturing, and
would exhibit the Government in the guilty position of broking
the faith guaranteed by their own licenses.

2. The threatened dismemberment will materially interfere with,
if it do not altogether absorb, whatever revenue, derived from the
sale of crown lands, or to be appropriated for^ promoting Emi-
gration from Britain, inasmuch as it will require all, nearly all,
or perhaps more than ail, the money thus raised for the enormously
increased expense of three separate governments, with their several
staffs of of&cials.

3. That the threatened dismemberment will tend to introduce
rivalries and jealousies between the colonists in each of the proposed
divisions, and will injure, if it do not destroy, the harmony which
it is desirable should prevail and be promoted all over Australia.

362 SELECT I^OGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

4. That the uniform price of -£ 1 per acre, so far from being produc-
tive of any known benefit, will be very injurious, first to the revenue,
which will l^e thereby frightfully reduced, and secondly to individuals
who have previously purchased land; while it can benefit no one
except land speculators, such as the company advertised in England,
expressly in consequence of this most injudicious regulation.

5. That the uniform price o^ £l per acre, is chiefly proposed and
defended from the example of South Australia, whereas by the
confession of Colonel Gawder, the Governor at Adelaide, this had
utterly failed there.

6. That these injurious and destructive regulations have been
devised by ministers so utterly ignorant of the Colony as to have
proposed Goat Island, half a mile in extent, as a sufficient depot
for convicts; or by persons who have influence at the Colonial
Office, to smuggle into a bill clauses calculated to work for their
own aggrandisement.

7. That the divison wished for by the settlers at Port Phillip
would be ruinous to their own interests, by cutting them oflf from
the supplies of money for which they have hitherto depended
upon New South Wales.

8. That the dismemberment would be ruinous to New South
Wales ; because the available land of the nineteen counties has been
nearly all sold, and consequently they would have no immigration
fund to fall back upon, to supply them with labour, now so indis-
pensable, not only to their property, but also to their mere existence.

9. That the sinister motives of self-interest so jeeringly thrown
out against the great flock-masters, the grantees, and other colonists
and capitalists, are identical with the purest patriotism; for the
great mass of the colonists of all ranks agree with them in every
one of the above arguments against dismemberment; and at the
meeting there was not one dissentient voice, nor one hand held
up a^inst any one of the resolutions.

10. That it is the duty of every man in the Colony to do his utmost
to prevent, if possible, the threatened measures from being taken
into effect, inasmuch as though they are at present so far in abeyance,
it is highly probable the interests at home — meaning non-colonial
and selfish interests amongst the ministers or their puppets who
pull the strings (Stephens, &c.) will most probably be sufficiently
powerful to bring upon us the ruin so much deprecated and dreaded.

43^ A Petition from the Colonists of the District of Port
Phillip for Separation. 1849.

(Enc. No. 5 in Fitzroy to Grey, 14 February 1850. Further Papers

GONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY-

Relative to the Alterations in the Constitutions (jf the Aii^traiian
Colonies, p. 9. P.P. 1851, XXXV, 1303.;

The. Petition of the Colonists of the District of P#rt Fhlliip,
Colony of New South Wales, in public meeting assembled. ...

That your Majesty’s Petitioners represent body as lo\'aI and
attached to British institutions as exists on the face of the entire
globe, but they cannot but feel that those feelings are the result
of British sentiment and ancient prepossession; and have iieithei'
been formed nor encouraged by any kindness that this district has
ever yet received; that unsupported and unassisted it has risen to
its present condition; that the mother-country has made it a mere
field of patronage and area of experiment; that she has received
Port Phillip exports, but because she could not elsewhere supply
herself with produce of a better character, or cheaper rate; tliat
she has sent to this province large quantities of various merchandise,
but because these shores furnished her the very best customers in
the world; that she has sent emigrants, but solely by aid of Port
Phillip funds; that her protection, in case of war, is more likely
to lead Port Phillip into annoyance than secure her efficient assist-
ance in time of need, and that it must never he forgotten that while
the objects of thankfulness are so few as scarcely t(j have existence
at all, this district has but lately been exposed at the hands of the
British people to an attempt at conversion into a penal settlement
— an attack at once insulting to its dignity and common sense,
and utterly opposed to every interest and every principle; that
while such has been the character of the Home Government of
this province, the colonial government has never been found by the
colonists anything but another name for oppression and unjustifiable
spoliation, and they have no faith in the promises made (jf a better
state of things in future, should separation be any longer deferred;
that the natural effect of a continuance of this treatment is such as
your Majesty’s Petitioners are most unwilling to conteii^Iate,
for the inhabitants of this province having availed themsewes of
every legal and constitutional means in their power to rid themselves
of a burden which has become altogether intolerable, having
petitioned and remonstrated year after year, in every form and
through every channel open to them, and still finding their deliver-
ance unnecessarily delayed, and it may be seriously endangered,
are likely to be wound up to such extreme irritation, as must be
highly detrimental to the continuance of those feelings of loyalty
to your Majesty’s throne, and attachment to the institutions of
their native land, which ought to distinguish a British colony.
That your Majesty’s Petitioners are therefore of the deliberate
opinion, that farther tantalising the inhabitants of Port Phillip
with promises of deliverance, which have hitherto been made only

364 SELECT 3^0GUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

to be broken, is altogether inexcusable ; leaves the British government
openly chargeable with having rashly tampered with the affections
of a whole people, and renders it responsible for any step of which
the irritation of disappointed hopes, and the continual failure of
the customary means of securing redress, may eventually induce
the adoption. ^

Your Majesty’s Petitioners therefore, humbly pray that your
Majesty will, irrespective of the general Bill for the Government
of th^ Australian Colonies, cause to be laid before Parliament on
its reassembling, a Bill for the separation of this province from New
South Wales, and its immediate erection into a separate colony,
bearing your Majesty’s Royal name of Victoria, with legislative
institutions, corresponding with those now existing in the colony.

And Your Majesty’s Petitioners will ever pray.

[Signed] AUGUSTUS F. A. GREEVES,
Mayor of Melbourne, Chairman.

[Note: This petition was approved at two public meetings in Melbourne on
26 November and 6 December 1849. For other petitions see Papers Relative
to the Proposed Alterations in the Constitutions of the Australian Colonies,
pp. 22-5, P.P. 1849, XXXV, 1074.]

44, Fitzroy on the Use of the Revenue from Port Phillip. 1850.

(Fitzroy to Grey, 22 February 1850. Further Papers Relative to
the Alterations in the Constitutions of the Australian Colonies,
p. 10. P.P. 1851, XXXV, 1303.)

I feel bound briefly to observe, that the rule laid down by my
predecessor [see note below], and fully concurred in by myself,
and which has hitherto been acted on under the sanction of Her
Majesty’s government, namely, that so long as Port Phillip forms an
integral portion of the colony of New South Wales, the revenue
raised^ in either district should be expended for the joint benefit
of the whole colony, is in my opinion the only one that could have
been adopted with propriety, and that any attempt to re-open this
question at the period of separation would lead to interminable
confusion and misunderstanding between the two colonies.

[Note: Fitzroy’s predecessor, Sir George Gipps, explained his principle in
a dispatch to Stanley. See Gipps to Stanley, 29 April 1846, H.R.A. I, 25, pp.
32-3. For an analysis of the use of Port Phillip revenue, see pp. 1 1-26 of Further
Papers Relative to the Alterations in the Constitutions of the Australian
Colonies, P.P. 1851, XXXV, 1303. For other petitions for separation see the
same parliamentary paper. For an account and a comment on the movement
see E. Sweetman: Australian Constitutional Development^ Ch. 17, and A. C. V.
Melbourne: Early Constitutional Development in Australia, Pt IV, Ch. 8. For the
decision to grant separation, and to create the colony of Victoria, see the section
on the Australian Colonies’ Government Act in this volume.]

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

365

F. The Passing of the Australian Colonies’ Government
Act, 1844-50

45. Why Some of the Legislative Coimcillors oi N.S.W.

Wanted Responsible Governments 1844.

(Report of Select Committee on General* Grievances, pp. 6-9.
V. and P. of the Legis. Coun, of N.S.W. 1844, VoL 11.)

[Note: For the opinions of the Systematic Colonizers on this see E. G.
Wakefield: “Sir Charles Metcalfe in Canada”, and C. Buller: “Responsible
Government for the Colonies”. Both of these essays are published in E^. M.
Wrong: Charles Buller and Responsible Government (Oxford, 1926).]

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT

The next constitutional grievance, to which the attention of
your committee has been directed, is the total absence of all
responsible government.

Nothing can more clearly evince the evil tendencies of that entire
separation of the Legislative and Executive powers — which exists
here at present, than the perfect indifference, if not contempt,
with which the most important decisions and resolutions of your
Honorable House have been treated by the head of the government
during the course of this Session. Notwithstanding the insignificant
minorities — in which the confidential servants and advisers (if any
such there be) of the government have been left on every important
subject — which has engaged the attention of the House during the
present Session, the condemned policy and measures of the executive
aie still persevered in, as if they met the fullest concurrence and
support of overwhelming majorities. Night after night the decisions
of the representatives of the people — decisions, in many of the most
important of which, some of the most experienced, and influential
of the unofficial nominees of the Crown have concurred, have been
utterly disregarded, and every possible expedient resorted to — in
order to deprive the Council of that control over the public purse,
which the Imperial Legislature on the one hand, and successive
Secretaries of State, with the sanction of the Lords of the Treasury
— on the other, have over and over again placed at its disposal. . . .

It appears to your Committee that there is but one way of
preventing the collisions which have thus unhappily commenced,
from becoming permanent — to give the Legislative Council the
necessary privileges of a representative body, which imply that
control over the ministers, and administration of the Colony which
belongs to responsible Government, properly so called, and which
can only exist, where the decision of the majority can occasion the
choice — as well as the removal of the functionaries — who are
entrusted with the chief executive departments.

But to responsible Government there must belong responsible
ministers, and since it is clear from the evidence of the Colonial

366 SELECT ^DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Secretary and Colonial Treasurer, that, in their opinion, no legal
responsibility whatever attaches to them for any advice they may
give the Executive on any measures, however mischievous and
destructive, which may be consequent on that advice; it follows
that to ensure such due responsibility, the creation of some colonial
tribunal for impeachments is an indispensable adjunct.

. . . And when — to the utter irresponsibility necessarily resulting
from this unconstitutional unaccountability, is superadded the still
further irresponsibility, which results from an enormous Civil List,
assumed without the consent of the representatives of the people, and
without the surrender of those hereditary Revenues which are its
usual and constitutional accompaniment, and the retention of which,
in conjunction with such Civil List, is sufficient, with moderate
economy, to render the government altogether independent of
any grants from the people, it cannot be denied that a purer system
of despotism, under the semblance of popular representation,
could hardly have been devised. . . .

The utter state of pupilage, in which the Governors of our
Colonies generally are now held, by that necessity for constant
reference to Downing-street, which is imposed on them by their
instructions, and the public inconveniences and mischiefs that
accrue to the Colonies in general, from the distrust thus evinced
on the part of the Home authorities of the ability or inclination of
Governors to use that local knowledge which they possess, or acquire
with due judgment and discretion, if attended with practical and
serious evils in Colonies at the other side of the Atlantic, cannot
but operate with aggravated injury in a community situated as
we are, at the distance of half the circumference of the globe from
this seat of Imperial reference and power.

Nor is it the least evil of this system, that it renders the term
“Governor” a practical misnomer, and constitutes him who ought,
in f^ct, as well as in name, to be the Queen’s representative, fully
armed with all the powers delegated to him by the Royal
Commission, a mere subordinate officer; and what is worse, as
far as the moral influence of his station goes, a mere Imperial
officer, possessing on the one hand, in reality, little or no discretion
in the wide range of administrative powers apparently confided
to him, but still held by the community over which he presides,
from their inability to separate those measures, which are of his
origination, from those which are not, accountable, on the other
hand, for the whole of the mischievous policy of which he is the
apparent author.

Possessed thus of a sufficient ostensibility of power to draw down
upon him the just obloquy of bad measures, with but small means

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

367

and generally still smaller inclination to risk by any disobedience
to the mandates of superior authority, that chance of ultimate
and higher appointments, to which the governments #f Colonies
are now generally cons'dered by the occupants as mere stepping
stones, — the practical operation of this system has been, to draw
down upon the head of this mere automaton Ailer, the denuncia-
tions and a tacks of all parties — ^whose interests or privileges he
assails, whether in obedience to instructions or otherwise.

The constant irritations and vexations incident to such attacks,
evidently tend to destroy all those sympathies between Governors
and the Colonies, which used to exist uhder the old system of
colonial administration, when the hands of those functionaries
were comparatively unfettered, and when the Home Government,
with juster views, as it appears to your committee, than prevail
at present, acted on the belief, that there are in reality but few
questions of a purely Imperial character, connected with the
internal economy of Colonies, to need their control; and still
fewer, where the amplest discretions may not safely be confided
to the Queen’s delegate on the spot.

The want of all sympathy between the head of the Executive
and the Colony, which this state of things superinduces, is in itself
a great evil — the want of the necessary information in Downing-
street, to decide correctly on quest’ ons most generally of a purely
local nature, thus habitually referred to the Home Government,
and the wrong decisions and imperfect legislation, which are the
necessary consequences, is a yet greater evil; but a greater evil
still of this system, is, that it essentially impairs the real vigour
of the Executive, by suspending its decisions, until distance and
delay have weakened their force, and thus rendered them compar-
atively valueless, even when right, and utterly unsatisfactory,
or odious, when wrong.

There is but one remedy for these evils — responsible government, in
the sense in which it is understood in England, and an absence^of all
interference on the part of the home authorities, except on questions
purely Imperial, or on matters referred to them by way of appeal,
where the Executive and Legislative bodies happen to differ. . . .

46. Grey Announces the Principles for the New Constitutions
of the Australian Colonies. 1847.

(Grey to Fitzroy, 31 July 1847. Copies of the despatch from Earl
Grey to the Governor of New South Wales, dated 31 July 1847,
and other despatches and correspondence relating thereto, pp. 4-6.
?,P. 1847-8, XLII, 715.)

Without entering at large into the argument, I must yet so far
vindicate my own conclusion as to remark, that it rests mainly

368 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

on the great principle of colonial government, which all theory
and all experience seem to me to concur in establishing. That
principle i«, that all affairs of merely local concern should be left
to the regulation of the local authorities; to that principle I know
of no general exceptions, unless in cases where local interests may
clash with the interfets of the empire at large, or in cases where some
one predominant class of a colonial society might be disposed to
exert such powers so as unjustly to depress some feebler and defence-
less «class. It was on this general principle that the existing
constitution of New South Wales was founded. It is on the same
general principle that ’ the proposed qualification of it may be
most successfully vindicated.

Local self-government, if necessary for the good of the whole
colony, is not less necessary for the good of the several districts
of which it is composed. For this reason it was that Parliament
provided for the erection throughout New South Wales of muni-
cipal corporations, which should, in various respects, balance and
keep in check the powers of the Legislative Council. By this method
it was supposed that the more remote districts would be able
to exercise their fair share of power, and to enjoy their proper
influence in the general polity of the whole province. But the result
has disappointed this expectation. The municipalities have only
a nominal existence. The Legislative Council has absorbed all the
other powers of the colonial state. The principle of self-government
in the districts the most remote from Sydney is therefore acted upon
almost as imperfectly as if the conduct of local affairs had remained
under the same management and institutions as those which the
existing system superseded.

Members, it is true, are chosen to represent those districts in the
Legislature; but it is shown that such of the inhabitants of Port
Phillip as are really qualified for this trust, are unable to undertake
it at the expense of abandoning their residences and their pursuits
in tife southern division of the colony. Thus the Port Phillip repres-
entation has become an unreal and illusory, not a substantial,
enjoyment of representative government.

The principle of local self-government (like every other political
principle) must, when reduced to practice, be qualified by many
other principles which must operate simultaneously with it.
To regulate such affairs with reference to any one isolated rule or
maxim would, of course, be an idle and an ineffectual attempt;
for example, it is necessary that while providing for the local
management of local interests, we should not omit to provide for
a central management of all such interests as are not local. Thus
questions, co-extensive in their bearing with the limits of the
empire at large, are the appropriate province of Parliament. B\it

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 369

there are questions which, though local as it respects the British
possessions in Australia collectively, are not merely local as it
respects any one of those possessions; considered as members of
the same empire, those colonies have many common interests,
the regulation of which in some uniform majjjner, and by some
single authority, may be essential to the welfare of them all. Yet in
many cases such interests may be more promptly, effectually, and
satisfactorily decided by some authority within Australia itself
than by the more remote, the less accessible, and, in truth, th^ less
competent authority of Parliament.

Her Majesty’s Government, therefore, hope in the next Session
of Parliament to introduce a Bill for the division of New South
Wales into two colonies, the northern of which would retain its
present name, while the southern colony would, by Her Majesty’s
gracious permission, receive the name of the Province of Victoria.

The effect of this alteration would be to render inevitable some
changes in the existing constitution of the northern government.
When detached from the southern districts, the existing system
would cease in many respects to be appropriate and applicable to
its new condition, and there appear also to be some particulars
in which the practical operation of the present constitution proves
that it might with advantage be revised. One of the most material
of these contemplated changes is that which involves a return to
the old form of colonial constitutions. You are aware that in the
older British colonies, the legislature, as in New South Wales,
is generally composed partly of nominees of the Grown and partly
of the representatives of the people; but there is this important
difference between the two systems, that in the one case the
legislature is divided into two separate houses and chambers, in
the other the representatives of the people and the nominees of the
Crown form a single body under the title of the Legislative Council.
It does not appear to me that the practical working of this last
system would by any means justify the conclusion that it is an
improvement upon that which it was formerly the practice to
adopt; on the contrary, I see many reasons for belief, that the more
ancient system by which every new law was submitted to the
separate consideration of two distinct houses, and required their
joint consent for its enactment, was the best calculated to ensure
judicious and prudent legislation.

Another very important question will arise as to the means
which should be taken in order more effectually to provide for
the municipal government of the various towns, counties, or
other smaller divisions. I have already observed that it was the
intention of Parliament, in establishing the existing constitution
of New South Wales, to create local authorities of this description ;

370 SELECT I30GUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

and although that intention has hitherto been defeated, it is
not the opinion of Her Majesty’s Government that it ought to
be abandofied. The experience of our own country, that- of the
British provinces in North America, and also that of the former
British colonies, wl^lch now constitute the great republic of the
United States, may be said to have conclusively established not
merely the great advantages of devolving the management of
local affairs upon the inhabitants of districts of moderate size,
acting by their representatives, but likewise the converse of
this, and that evils of a very serious kind result from committing
the exclusive management of the affairs, both general and local,
of a whole province, to a central legislature, unaided and unbalanced
by any description of local organization. It follows, that in
revising the constitution of New South Wales, it will be necessary
to consider what changes ought to be made in the existing
law for the erection of municipalities, in order to secure to
those bodies their just weight and consideration, and expecially
whether, with that view, they may not be made to bear to the House
of Assembly the relation of constituents and representatives.

Some method will also be devised for enabling the various
legislatures of the several Australian colonies to co-operate with
each other in the enactment of such laws as may be necessary for
regulating the interests common to those possessions collectively;
such, for example, are the imposition of duties of import and export,
the conveyance of letters, and the formation of roads, railways,
or other internal communications traversing any two or more of
such colonies.

I will not attempt at the present moment to do more than to
indicate the general principles on which it is propos.ed to legislate.
The details will be the subject of further and . of very attentive
consideration.

That part of the plan which respects the creation of a central
authority implies the establishment of the system of representative
legislation throughout the whole of the Australian colonies,
including Van Diemen’s Land and South and Western Australia,
though in the latter it will probably be thought right to postpone
the operation of the change until the colonists shall be prepared
to defray the expense of their own civil government without the
assistance of an annual Parliamentary grant.

47. The Resolutions of the Legislative Council of New South
Wales on Grey^s First Proposals. 1848.

(Enc. IF in Fitzroy to Grey, 11 August 1848. Papers Relative to the
Proposed Alterations in the Constitutions of the Australian Colonies,
pp. 18-19. P.P. 1849, XXXV, 1074.)

CONSTI'i UTIONAL HISTORY 371

[Note: For other Sydney reactions to Grey’s proposals see the Sydney Morning
Herald of 21 January 1848.]

May it please Your Excellencyj

We, Her Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the members of
the Legislative Council of New South Wales, in Council assembled, beg
respectfully to request that your Exc:e]lency will be pleased to commu-
nicate to Her Majesty’s Government, that this Council is of opinion ; —

( 1 ) . That the erection of Port Phillip into a new province may be
effected without any fundamental change in the constitution
of this colony.

(2) . That the principle that local affairs should be managed by
local authorities though obviously true, as between the colonies
and the mother country, and as regards the regulation of the affairs
of large towns, cannot safely be extended to the relation
between the central Government of this colony and its rural districts.

(3) . That it is from the utter inability of the rural districts to bear
the expenses of District Councils, and not from any desire on the
pare of the Legislative Council to monopolize all the powers of
the colonial state, that the one part of the constitution intended
for the colony, has been brought into operation, while the other
has remained in abeyance.

(4) . That any scheme of District Councils, involving powers of
local assessment for local purposes, would operate as a virtual
confiscation of the lands already alienated; would create endless
discord and confusion; and by simultaneously introducing a
federal and local system of government, render that government
at once ruinously expensive and miserably inefficient.

(5) . That grievous as this Council would esteem it, to see any
system of delegated election imposed upon the colony, the dis-
franchisement of the present constituencies in order to confer the
elective right upon these justly obnoxious corporations, v^ould
render this invasion of public liberty still more intolerable.

(6) . That this Council cannot acquiesce in any plan for an inter-
colonial assembly in which the superior wealth and population of
New South Wales, as compared with the other colonies of the
Australian group, both individually and collectively, shall not
be fully recognized as the basis of representation.

(7) . That this Council cannot forbear expressing its strong sense
of the indignity with which the people of this colony are treated,
by the announcement that a measure so seriously influencing their
destiny for good or for evil, will be introduced into Parliament,
without affording them an opportunity of previously expressing
their sentiments upon it.

372 SELECT bOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

48. Sir W. Denison^s Opinion on the Constitution of
Tasmania. 1848.

(Denison fo Grey, 15 August 1848. Papers Relative to the Proposed
Alterations in the Constitutions of the Australian Colonies, pp, 30-1.
P.P. 1849, XXXV^ 1074.)

It will be but just to the Menabers of the Executive Council,
and to myself, that I should explain to your Lordship, the grounds
upon which we recommended the adoption of a form of government
similar to that at present existing in New South Wales, without
attempting to give an opinion as to the advantages or disadvantages
contingent upon the adoption of that particular form. . . .

Without, therefore, wishing or presuming to give an opinion
on the general question of the best form of legislative body, I may
say that, under the peculiar circumstances of these colonies, I should
most strenuously recommend the adoption of a Second or Upper
Chamber.

When we consider the elements of which society is here composed,
—when we see the low estimate that is placed upon everything
which can distinguish a man from his fellows, with the sole exception
of wealth, — ^when we see that even wealth does not lead to dist-
inction, or open the road to any other ambition than that of excelling
in habits of self-indulgence, — ^it can hardly be subject of
surprise that so few are found who rise above the general level,
or that those few owe more to the possession of a certain oratorical
facility than to their powers of mind or the justness of the opinions
which they advocate.

The broad plain of equality, as in America, receives the whole
of the community, and though there are many who would gladly
avail themselves of any opportunity of raising themselves above the
general level, yet here, as in America, any attempt to do so would
be frustrated by the jealousy of the remainder of the community.

Yaur Lordship can hardly form an idea of the character of the
population of these colonies.

It is usual to assume that colonies are off-shoots from the parent
stock, containing in themselves the germs of all the elements of
which society in the mother country is composed.

This can only be said of any colony with many reservations,
but it cannot be said of these colonies with any appearance of
justice or truth.

There is an essentially democratic spirit which actuates the large
mass of the community; and it is with the view to check the develop-
ment of this spirit, of preventing its coming into operation, that
I would suggest the formation of an Upper Chamber.

The members of this, call it senate or what you may, will be
raised in some measure above the general level of society, — they

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY’

373

will be rendered independent of popular blame or approbation,
— but, being also free from the suspicion of acting under the
control of the Government, they will conciliate popular^ feeling, and
hold a fair position between the Executive and the Legislature.

I do not presume to enter into any detail ^f the mode in which
such an assembly should be constituted, further than to express
an opinion that the Government should have as little as possible
to do in the nomination or selection of the members.

There must, of course, be some ex-officio representatives® of the
Government in the House. The bishops of the Church of England
and Rome might sit as representatives of the ecclesiastical bodies;
but as the object with which I advocate the establishment of a
second chamber, is more that of operating morally upon the body
of the community, than of facilitating generally the operations
of the Executive Government, I should be loth to recommend the
adoption of a plan which might in any way neutralize the beneficial
action of such a body upon the mass of the people.

I also think that, in order to render the members perfectly
independent of either the Government or the people, they should
be appointed or elected for life.

Trusting that your Lordship will not be of opinion that, in
offering these suggestions, I have in any way exceeded the limits
imposed upon me by my position in this colony.

[Note: In his reply to this dispatch Earl Grey said: “And for the reasons
which you have yourself adduced it is not thought advisable to adopt a different
system for Van Diemen’s Land from that which prevails in the adjacent colonies.”
See Grey to Denison, 20 March 1849, p. 32, P.P. 1849, XXXV, 1074.]

49. Grey’s Second Proposal. 1848.

(Grey to Fitzroy, 31 July 1848. Despatches and Papers Relative to
the Colony of New South Wales, pp. 45-6. P.P. 1847-8, XLII, 715.)

I will proceed to state the measure which Her Majesty’s Govern-
ment have it in contemplation to introduce into Parlian^ent, in
order to effect at once the separation of Port Phillip from New
South Wales, and certain ulterior objects which will be explained
in the course of this despatch.

The Bill for this purpose will, in the first place, effect no change
in the composition or authority of the Legislative Council of New
South Wales beyond such as are the necessary consequences of
the separation.

It will also establish in Port Phillip a Legislature, similar in
character to that which now exists in New South Wales.

It further appears to me advisable that the same Bill should
contain provisions for the establishment of representative institutions
in the colonies of Van Diemen’s Land and South Australia. In the
forrner the numbers of the convict population, and the strict

374 SELECT D<5cUMENTS in AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

discipline which it was necessary in consequence to maintain, have
hitherto been regarded as presenting obstacles to the adoption of
any system of self-government; but it now appears to me that* such
a measure 'ought no longer on this account to be delayed. In South
Australia no such obsj^acles have ever existed, and the rapid advance
of its population in numbers and in wealth and intelligence appears
to indicate that the time has fully arrived when that province should
take its place among the self-governing colonies of the British
empiret I propose, therefore, that in both these colonies the principle
of popular representation should be introduced, and that this should
be effected by adding to their existing legislatures elective members
bearing the same proportion to those nominated by the Crown,
as in New South Wales. But as this form of Government, while
upon the whole it may be the best adapted to present circumstances,
is one which may admit of much modification and improvement
under the suggestions of experience, and as the Australian commun-
ities are, in my opinion, fully competent to originate and to discuss
for themselves any changes in this portion of their institutions,
I have it further in contemplation to recommend that their respective
Legislative Councils should have power to make such alterations
in their own institutions as they may think expedient; subject,
however, to the condition that no Ordinance which any such
Legislative Council may pass for this purpose shall come into force
until it shall have been specially confirmed by the Queen in Council,
after being laid for one month before both Houses of Parliament.
By this arrangement provision will, I trust, be made for accom-
modating the constitutions of those thriving colonies to the wants
and the wishes of their inhabitants, while at the same time the
necessary security will be taken against the introduction of rash
and ill-considered changes.

There is another subject to which, in making the proposed
arranggnent, it will be necessary to advert. The communication
by land between the districts of New South Wales and Port Phillip
is already completely established; that of the latter, with South
Australia, is becoming not inconsiderable; and, in the rapid progress
of events in those advancing communities, the intercourse between
them will yearly become more and more intimate and frequent.
If, therefore, these three portions of the mainland of Australia
should be placed under distinct and altogether independent
legisltaures, each exerting absolute authority as to the imposition
of duties on goods imported, the almost inevitable result will be
that such differences will grow up between the tariffs of the several
colonies, as will render it necessary to establish lines of internal
custom-houses on the frontiers of each. The extreme inconvenience
and loss which each community would sustain from such measures

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

375

needs no explanation; it will therefore be absolutely necessary to
adopt some means of providing for that uniformity in their commer-
cial policy which is necessary, in order to give free soope for the
development of their great natural resources, and for the increase
of their trade. In what manner this may best be accomplished is a
question of some difficulty, which I must reseive for more mature
consideration.

[Note: In May 1849 a Committee of the Privy Council for Trade and
Plantations made a Report on the future constitutions of the Australian Colonies.
They supported the main proposals made by Grey. In addition they stated the
reason for proposing a single chamber for each colony: “If we were approaching
the present question under circumstances which left to us the unfettered
exercise of our own judgment as to the nature of the legislature to be established
in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Van Diemen’s Land, we
should advise that Parliament should be mo\'ed to recur to the ancient con-
stitutional usage by establishing in each a Governor, a Council, and an Assembly.
For we think it desirable that the political institutions of the British Colonies
should thus be brought into the nearest possible analogy to the constitution of
the United Kingdom. ...

“But great as is the weight that we attach to these considerations, the cir-
cumstances under which we actually approach the question are such as to
constrain us, however reluctantly, to adopt the opinion that the proposed Act
of Parliament should provide for the establishment in each of the four Australian
colonies of a single House of Legislature only; one- third of the members of which
should be nominated by Your Majesty, and the remaining two-thirds elected
by the colonists.

“For such is in point of fact the system which now prevails throughout the
territories which will compose the two provinces of New South Wales and
Victoria. It was the pleasure of Parliament in the year 1842 to establish that
system. Custom appears to have attached the colonists to it. Public opinion in
New South Wales would appear to be decidedly opposed to an alteration in
this respect of the existing constitution of the colony by the authority of
Parliament.” See Papers Relative to the Proposed Alterations in the Consti-
tutions of the Australian Colonies, pp. 36-7, P.P. 1849, XXXV, 1074. They
also advised the Queen to confer the name of Victoria on the new colony,
formerly the District of Tort Phillip. See ibid,^ p. 36.]

50. OpimoH in South Australia on Grey’s Second Proposal.
1849.

(Enc. in Young to Grey, 22 December 1849. Further Papers
Relative to the Proposed Alterations in the Constitutions of the
Australian Colonies, pp. 19-20. P,P. 1850, XXXVII, 1160.)

THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION— PUBLIC MEETING

At a public meeting of the colonists, held at the Exchange,
King William-street, Adelaide — Charles B. Newenham, Esq.,
sheriff, in the chair, the following resolutions were unanimously
agreed to: —

Proposed by J. H. Fisher, Esq., seconded by G. S. Kingston, Esq.- —

1st. That the Bill laid before Parliament, entitled ‘‘A Bill for the

better government of Her Majesty’s Australian Colonies,” so far

376 SELECT D'OCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

as it relates to the colony of South Australia, meets the wishes and
wants of the colonists in most of its most essential provisions; and
b/ recommending the concession of a Representative Govern-
ment with such extensive powers, deserves to be regarded as a
wise, liberal, and comprehensive measure ; and that the thanks of
the colonists are cfue to the Right Hon. Earl Grey, Secretary for
the Colonies; and to Mr. Hawes, Lord John Russell, and Mr.
Labouchere, the members of the House of Commons who
prepared and brought in the Bill.

Proposed by Samuel Davenport, Esq., and seconded by George
Elder Esq. —

2nd. That the formation of a General Assembly of the Australasian
colonies, however desirable on the majority of matters proposed
to be left to the decision of such Assembly, is in principle as in
form a Federal Union; is, in a British sense, unconstitutional, as
morally opposed to the social institution of the colony, and
endangering our colonial independence.

Proposed by G. A. Anstey, Esq., and seconded by A. H. Davis
Esq.—

3rd. That the resolutions recently passed by the Legislative
Council, recommending a second chamber, do not represent the
opinion nor convey the sentiment of the colonists, particularly as
the proposed Act confers all needful powers for amending the
constitution, and adapting it to future exigencies; and that any
provision which should enforce upon the colonists a system of life
nominees in such a Chamber, this meeting deprecates as an
intolerable evil, which might neutralize all the good to be anti-
cipated from the proposed measure.

Proposed by F. S. Dutton, Esq., and seconded by G. M. Waterhouse,
Esq. —

4th. The colonists being prepared as heretofore to bear the whole
expenses of their civil government, consider that they have a
constitutional right to regulate, by means of their representatives
in Council, the mode of raising and of appropriating the colonial
revenue, free from all direction and control by Her Majesty’s
Treasury, or by the Commissioners of Customs; and they further
consider that the Local Government should have the power of
appointing all officers of government, and that the salaries should
be fixed by the Colonial Legislature.

Proposed by J. B. Montefiore, Esq., and seconded by Wm. Peacock,
Esq. —

5th. That this meeting considers the provisions in the Sydney Act,
fixing the qualifications of members of the proposed Representa-
tive Council, and of the electors, inapplicable to the circum-

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY*

377

stances of the colony; and that power should be therefore given
to the Local Legislature to qualify such provisions as they may see
fit.

Proposed by Wm. Blyth, Esq., and seconded by -Samuel Stocks,
Esq. —

6th. That a copy of the resolutions passed %t this meeting, and
signed by the chairman, be forwarded to Earl Grey; and that the
following gentlemen be appointed a committee, with power to
add to their number, to prepare petitions to both Hoyses of
Parliament embodying these resolutions, requesting His
Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor to forward the same with the
least possible delay.

[Signed] J. H. FISHER, R. D. HANSON,

E. STEPHENS, GEO. ELDER,

A. H. DAVIS, G. A. ANSTEY,

JOHN BROWN, S. STOCKS, junior.

G. S. KINGSTON, JOHN BAKER.

S. DAVENPORT,

A vote of thanks to the chairman was carried by acclamation.
[Signed] C. B. NEWENHAM, Chairman,

[Note: For another opinion in South Australia see the resolutions of the
Legislative Council of South Australia for 15 December 1849. These are printed
in the same parliamentary paper as the above.]

51. The Australian Colonies’ Government Act. 1850.

{Statutes at Large, Vol. XX.)

An Act for the better Government of Her Majesty’s Australian
Colonies. 13 & 14 Viet. c.59. (5th August 1850.)

. . . And whereas it is expedient that the District of Port Phillip,
now Part of the Colony of New South Wales, should be erected into
a separate Colony, and that further Provision should be made for
the Government of Her Majesty’s Australian Colonies : Be it enacted,
therefore, by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with
the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and
Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Auth-
ority of the same. That after such Provisions as herein-after
mentioned shall have been made by the Governor and Council
of New South Wales, and upon the issuing of the Writs for the first
Election in pursuance thereof, as herein-after mentioned, the
Territories now comprised within the said District of Port Phillip,
including the Town of Melbourne, and bounded on the North and
North-east by a straight Line drawn from Cape How to the nearest

378 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Source of the River Murray^ and thence by the Course of that,
River to the Eastern Boundary of the Colony of South Australia^
shall be separated from the Colony of Mew South Wales, and shall
cease to return Members to the Legislative Council of such Colony,
and shall be erected into and thenceforth form a separate Colony,
to be known and designated as the Colony of Victoria,

II. And be it •enacted, That the Number of Members of which,
after such Separation as aforesaid, the Legislative Council of the
Colony of Mew South Wales shall consist, shall, in manner herein-
after mentioned, be determined by the Governor and Council
of Mew South Wales i and there shall be within and for the Colony
of Victoria a separate Legislative Council, to consist of such Number
of Members as shall in like Manner be determined by the said
Governor and Council; and such Number of the Members of the
Legislative Council of each of the said Colonies respectively as
is equal to One Third Part of the whole Number of Members of
such Council, or, if such whole Number be not exactly divisible
by Three, One Third of the next greater Number which is divisible
by Three, shall be appointed by Her Majesty, and the remaining
Members of the Council of each of the said Colonies shall be elected
by the Inhabitants of such Colony.

III. And be it enacted. That after the Proclamation of this Act
in the Colony of Mew South Wales it shall be lawful for the Governor
and Legislative Council of such Colony, by an Act to be for that
Purpose made and enacted in the Manner and subject to the
Conditions now by Law required , in respect of Acts made and
enacted by the said Governor and Council, to determine the
Number of Members of which, after such Separation as aforesaid
of the said District of Port Phillip therefrom, the Legislative Council
of the Colony of Mew South Wales shall consist, and also to deter-
mine the Number of Members of which the Legislative Council
of the^said Colony of Victoria shall consist, and also to make all
necessary Provisions for dividing the Territories which after such
Separation will be comprised within the Colony of Mew South Wales
into convenient Electoral Districts, or for continuing such of the
existing Electoral Districts as shall be deemed convenient, and for
appointing and declaring the Number of Members of the Council
of the Colony of Mew South Wales after such Separation to be elected
for each such District, and for dividing the Territories to be
comprised in the Colony of Victoria into convenient Electoral
Districts, and for appointing and declaring the Number of Members
of the Council of the Colony of Victoria to be elected for each such
District, and for the Compilation and Revision of Lists of all Persons
qualified to vote at the Elections to be holden within the several
Districts of the said ‘Colonies respectively, and for the appointing

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY^

379

of Returning Officers, and for the issuing, executing, and returning
of the necessary Writs for such Elections, and for taking the Poll
thereat, and for determining the Validity of all disputed Returns,
and otherwise for ensuring the orderly, effective, and.^ impartial
Conduct of such Elections; provided that the Writs to be issued
for the first Election of Members of the Legidative Council of the
Colony of Victoria shall be issued by the Governpr of New South
Wales or by such Person as Her Majesty for that Purpose, by
Warrant under Her Royal Sign Manual, countersigned bj One
of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, shall appoint.

IV. And be it enacted. That every Man of the Age of Twenty-one
Years, being a natural-born or naturalized Subject of Her Majesty,
or legally made a Denizen of New South Wales, and having a
Freehold Estate in possession situate within the District for which
his Vote is to be given, of the clear Value of One hundred Pounds
Sterling Money above all Charges and Incumbrances in anyway,
affecting the same, of or to which he has been seised or entitled
either at Law of in Equity, for at least Six Calendar Months next
before the Date of the Writ of such Election, or in case a Registration
of Electors shall be established next before the last Registration of
Electors, or, being a Householder within such District, occupying
a Dwelling House of the clear annual Value of Ten Pounds Sterling
Money, and having resided therein Six Calendar Months next
before such -Writ or Registration as aforesaid, or holding at the
Date of such Writ or at the Time of such Registration a Licence
to depasture Lands within the District for which his Vote is to be
given from the Government of New South Wales, or having a
Leasehold Estate in possession situate within such District of the
Value of Ten Pounds Sterling Is/Loncy per Annum, held upon a Lease
which at the Date of such Writ or at the Time of Registration has
not less than Three Years to run, shall be entitled to vote at the
Election of a Member of the Legislative Council : Provided always,
that no Man shall be entitled to vote who has been attaiflted or
convicted of Treason, Felony, or other infamous Offence in any
Part of Her Majesty’s Dominions, unless he have received a free
Pardon or one conditional on not leaving the Colony for such
Offence, or have undergone the Sentence passed on him for such
Offence; and provided also, that no Man shall be entitled to vote
unless at the Time of such Election or Registration of Electors
(as the Case may be) he ffiall have paid up all Rates and Taxes
which shall have become payable by him as Owner or Leaseholder
in respect of such Estate, or as Occupier in respect of such Occu-
pancy, or as the Holder of a Licence in respect of such Licence,
except such as shall have become payable during Three Calendar
Months next before such Election or Registration respectively.

380 SELECT DpCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HIETTORY

VII. And be it enacted. That it shall be lawful for the Legislatures
now by Law established within the Colonies of Van Diemen's Land
and South Australia respectively, by Laws or Ordinances to be for
that Purpps^ made and enacted in the Manner and subject to the
Conditions now by Law required in respect of Laws or Ordinances
made by such Legislatures, to establish within the said Colonies
of Van Diemen's^ Land and South Australia respectively a Legislative
Council, to consist of such Number of Members, not exceeding
Twenty-four, as they shall think fit; and that such Number of the
MemlDers of each Council so to be established as is equal to One
Third Part of the whole Number of Members of such Council, or if
such whole Number be not exactly divisible by Three such Number
as is next greater than One Third of the whole Number, shall
be appointed by Her Majesty, and the remaining Members of
such Council shall be elected by the Inhabitants of the Colony
in which such Council shall be established; and it shall be lawful
for such Legislatures respectively, by such Laws or Ordinances as
aforesaid, to make all necessary Provisions for dividing the said
Colony of Van Diemen's Land and the said Colony of South Australia
into convenient Electoral Districts, and for appointing and declaring
the Number of Members of Council to be elected for each such
District, and for the Compilation and Revision of Lists of all
Persons qualified to vote at the Elections to be holden within such
Districts, and for the appointing of Returning Officers, and for the
issuing, executing, and returning of the necessary Writs for such
Elections, and for taking the Poll thereat, and for determining the
Validity of all disputed Returns, and otherwise for ensuring the
orderly, effective, and impartial Conduct of such Elections.

IX. And be it enacted, That upon the Presentation of a Petition
signed by not less than One Third in Number of the Householders
within the Colony of Western Australia^ praying that a Legislative
Councfl according to the Provisions of this Act be established
within such Colony, and that Provision be made for charging
upon the Revenues of such Colony all such Part of the Expenses
of the Civil Establishment thereof as may have been previously
defrayed by Parliamentary Grants, it shall be lawful for the
Persons authorized and empowered to make, ordain, and establish
Laws and Ordinances for the Government of the said Colony,
by any Law or Ordinance to be made for that Purpose, subject
to the Conditions and Restrictions to which Laws or Ordinances
made by such Persons are now subject, to establish a Legislative
Council within such Colony, to consist of such Number of Members
as they shall think fit, and such Number of the Members of such
Council as is equal to One Third Part of the whple Number of

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

381

Members of such Council, or if such Number be not exactly divisible
by Three, One Third of the next greater number which is divisible by
Three, shall be appointed by Her Majesty, and the remaining Mem-
bers of the Council shall be elected by the Inhabitants of the said
Colony; and it shall be lawful for such Persons as aforesaid, by such
Law or Ordinance as aforesaid, to make all i?ecessary Provisions
for dividing Western Australia into convenient Elec1?oral Districts,
and for appointing and declaring the Number of Members of
Council to be elected for each such District, and for the Compilation
and Revision of Lists of all Persons qualified to vote at the Elections
to be holden within such Districts, and for the appointing of
Returning Officers, and for the issuing, executing, and returning
of the necessary Writs for such Elections, and for taking the Poll
thereat, and for determining the Validity of all disputed Returns,
and otherwise ensuring the orderly, effective, and impartial
Conduct of such Elections; provided that no Law or Ordinance
establishing such Legislative Council within the said Colony of
Western Australia shall have any Force or Effect unless Provision
be thereby made for permanently granting to Her Majesty, Her
Heirs and Successors, out of the Revenues of the said Colony,
towards defraying such of the Expenses of the Establishments
of the said Colony as may have been previously defrayed in whole
or in part by Parliamentary Grants, a yearly Sum not less in
Amount than the Sum which may have been lastly before the making
of such Law or Ordinance authorized by Parliament to be issued
and applied out of the Aids or Supplies granted by Parliament
to defray the Charge for One Year of the said Colony, and for
raising the yearly sum so granted by means of sufficient Taxes,
Duties, Rates, or Imposts to be levied on Her Majesty’s Subjects
within such Colony.

X. And be it enacted. That the said recited Act of the Tenth Year
of the Reign of King George the Fourth shall be revived and
continue in force until the Issue of the Writs for the first El&tion
of Members of the Legislative Council of the said Colony of Western
Australia^ and from and after the issuing of such Writs such Act
shall be repealed; and all Laws, Institutions, and Ordinances made,
ordained, and established, and all other Acts done, in the said
Colony of Western Australia, by the Persons authorized and empower-
ed, or who if the said recited Act had not expired would have been
authorized and empowered, in that Behalf, shall be and be deemed
to have been as valid and effectual as if this Act had passed before
the Expiration of the said recited Act.

XL And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Governor
and Legislative Council of the Colony of New South Wales, after
the Separation of the Colony of Victoria therefrom, and also for

382 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HiSTORY

the Governors and Legislative Councils of the said Colonies of
Victoria^ Van Diemen's Land^ South Australia, and Western Australia
respective^", after the Establishment of Legislative Councils
therein vnder this Act, from Time to Time by any Act or Acts to
establish new Electoral Districts in any Parts of the said Colonies
respectively, and alter the Divisions and Extent of the Electoral
Districts of thersaid Colonies, and to alter and appoint the Number of
IMembers of Council to be chosen by the said Districts, and to
incre;ase the whole Number of Members of such Legislative Councils
respectively, and to alter and regulate the Appointment of Returning
Officers, and make Provision in such Manner as they may deem
expedient for the Issue and Return of Writs for the Election of
Members to serve in such Legislative Councils respectively, and
the Time and Place for holding such Elections : Provided always,
that where the whole Number of Members of Council shall be
increased such Number of the additional Councillors as is equal to
One Third Part of the whole Increase, or if such whole Increase
shall not be exactly divisible by Three such Number as is next
greater than One Third of the whole Increase, shall be appointed
by Her Majesty, and the remaining additional Members of Council
shall be elected by the Inhabitants of the Colony.

XXVI 1. And be it enacted. That, subject to the Provisions of
this Act, and notwithstanding any Act or Acts of Parliament now
in force to the contrary, it shall be lawful for the Governor and
Legislative Council of the Colony of New South Wales, and after
the Establishment of Legislative Councils therein respectively
under this Act for the respective Governors and Legislative Councils
of the Colonies of Victoria, Van Diemen's Land, South Australia, and
Western Australia, to impose and levy such Duties of Customs as to
such respective Governors and Councils may seem fit on the
Importation into such respective Colonies of any Goods, Wares,
and Merchandize whatsoever, whether the Produce or Manufacture
of or imported from the United Kingdom, or any of the Colonies
or Dependencies of the United Kingdom, or any Foreign Country:
Provided always, that no new Duty shall be so imposed upon the
Importation into any of the said Colonies of any Article the
Produce or Manufacture of or imported from any particular
Country or Place which shall not be equally imposed on the
Importation into the same Colony of the like Article the Produce
or Manufacture of or imported from all other Countries and
Places whatsoever.

XXIX. And be it enacted. That it shall be lawful for the Governors
and Councils of the said Colonies of New South Wales, Van Diemen's

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

383

Land and Victoria respectively, from Time to Time, by any Act
or Acts, to make such Provision as to them may seem meet for the
better Administration of Justice, and for defining the CJpnstitution
of the Courts of Law and Equity and of Juries, within^ the said
Colonies respectively, or within any present or future Dependencies
thereof respectively, anything in the said Act U? the Ninth Year of
King George the Fourth, or in this Act, or in any Charter of Justice
or Order in Council made or issued in pursuance thereof respec-
tively, or in any Law, Statute, or Usage, to the contrary thereof
notwithstanding.

XXXII. And be it enacted. That, notwithstanding anything
herein-before contained, it shall be lawful for the Governor and
Legislative Council of the Colony of Mew South Wales, after the
Separation therefrom of the Colony of Victoria, and for the Governors
and Legislative Councils of the said Colonies of Victoria, Van Diemen's
Land, South Australia, and Western Australia respectively, after the
Establishment of Legislative Councils therein under this Act, from
Time to Time, by any Act or Acts to alter the Provisions or Laws
for the Time being in force under this Act, or otherwise, concerning
the Election of the elective Members of such Legislative Councils
respectively, the Qualification of Electors and elective Members,
or to establish in the said Colonies respectively, instead of the Legis-
lative Council, a Council and a House of Representatives, or other
separate Legislative Houses, to consist respectively of such Members
to be appointed or elected respectively by such Persons and in
such Manner as by such Act or Acts shall be determined, and to
vest in such Council and House of Representatives or other separate
Legislative Houses the Powers and Functions of the Legislative
Council for which the same may be substituted: Provided always,
that every Bill which shall be passed by the Council in any of the
said Colonies for any of such Purposes shall be reserved for the
Signification of Her Majesty’s Pleasure thereon; and a Gopy
of such Bill shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament for the
Space of Thirty Days at the least before Her Majesty’s Pleasure
thereon shall be signified.

XXXIII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That the Provisions
of the said firstly-recited Act of the Sixth Year of the Reign of Her
Majesty, as explained and amended by the said secondly-recited
Act of the Eighth Year of the Reign of Her Majesty, concerning
Bills reserved for the Signification of Her Majesty’s Pleasure thereon,
shall be applicable to every Bill so reserved under the Provisions
of this Act.

XXXIV. And whereas by the said firstly-recited Act of the Sixth
Year of the Reign of Her Majesty Power is reserved to Her Majesty

384 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

by Letters Patent to be from Time to Time issued under the Great
Seal of Great Britain and Ireland to define the Limits of the said
Colony of Mew South Wales, and to erect into a separate Colony or
Colonies •‘any Territories which then were or were reputed to be
or thereafter might be comprised within the said Colony of Mew
South Wales, provideti that no Part of the Territories lying Southward
of the Twenty-^ixth Degree of South Latitude in the said Colony of
Mew South Wales should by any such Letters Patent as aforesaid
be detached from the said Colony: And whereas it is expedient
that the Power reserved to Her Majesty as aforesaid should be
extended over certain Parts of the said Territories lying Southward
of the Twenty-sixth Degree of South Latitude, upon the Application
of the Inhabitants thereof: Be it enacted, That it shall be lawful
for Her Majesty from Time to Time, upon the Petition of the
inhabitant Householders of any such of the Territories in the said
recited Proviso mentioned as lie Northward of the Thirtieth Degree
of South Latitude, to detach such Territories from the Colony of
Mew South Wales, and to erect such Territories into a separate
Colony or Colonies, or to include the same in any Colony or Colonies
to be established under the Powers of the last-mentioned Act;
and all the Powers and Provisions of the last-mentioned Act in
respect to any new Colony or Colonies to be established under such
Act shall extend to any new Colony or Colonies to be established
under this Enactment,

XXXV. Provided always, and be it enacted, That it shall be lawful
for the Legislature which may be constituted according to the
Provisions of the last-mentioned Act in any Colony established
under such Act, or under the Enactment herein-before contained,
by any Ordinance or Ordinances to be made for that Purpose,
subject to the Conditions and Restrictions to which Ordinances
to be made by such Legislature may by Law be subject, to establish
a Le^slative Council within such Colony, to consist of such Number
of Members as they shall think fit; and such Number of the Members
of such Council as is equal to One Third Part of the whole Number
of Members of such Council, or if such Number be not exactly
divisible by Three, One Third of the next greater Number which
is divisible by Three, shall be appointed by Her Majesty, and the
remaining Members of the Council shall be elected by the Inhab-
itants of such Colony; and it shall be lawful for such Legislature, by
such Law or Ordinance as aforesaid, to make all necessary Provisions
for dividing such Colony into convenient Electoral Districts, and
for appointing and declaring the Number of Members of Council
to be elected for each such District, and for the Compilation
and Revision of Lists of all Persons qualified to vote at the Elections
to be holden within such Districts, and for the appointing of

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

385

Returning Officers, and for the issuing, executing, and returning
of the necessary Writs for such Elections, and for taking the Poll
thereat, and for determining the Validity of all disputqi Returns,
and otherwise ensuring the orderly, effective, and impartial
Conduct of such Elections; and upon the Establishment in such
Colony of a Legislative Council under this^ Provision, all the
Provisions of this Act and of the said firstly-recited Act of the Sixth
Year of Her Majesty, and of the said secondly-recited Act of the
Eighth Year of Her Majesty, which are hereby made applicable
to the Colony of Western Australia^ after the Establishment under
this Act of a Legislative Council therein, shall become applicable
to the Colony in which a Legislative Council is established under
this Provision, as if all such Provisions were here repeated and
applied to every such Colony. . . .

[Note: Colonial opinion on this Act was very violent. See the resolutions
of the Legislative Council of New South Wales for 5 December 1851, V, and
P, of the Legis, Coun. of jy'.S.W. 1851, Vol. L]

SOURCES USED FOR SECTION 7

A. Official Sources

1. Bigge, J. T. : Report of the Commissioner of Inquiry
on the Judicial Establishments of New South Wales and
Van Diemen’s Land. P.P. 1823, X, 33.

2. Copy of a Report by the late Major General Macquarie
on the Colony of New South Wales, to Earl Bathurst;
dated London, 27 July 1822. P.P. 1828, XXI, 477.

3. Despatches and Papers Relative to the Colony of New
South Wales. P.P. 1847-8, XLII, 715.

4. Further Papers Relative to the Proposed Alterations
in the Constitutions of the Australian Colonies. P.P. 1851,
XXXV, 1303.

5. Governors’ Despatches (duplicates). (Western Australian
Archives.)

6. Historical Records of Australia^ Series I, III and IV.

7. Papers Relative to the Proposed Alterations in the
Constitutions of the Australian Colonies. P.P. 1849,
XXXV, 1074.

8. Report of the Select Committee on General Grievances.
F. and P. of the Legis, Coun, of N.S.W. 1844, Vol. II.

9. Report of the Select Committee on South Australia. P.P.
1841, IV, 394.

10. South Australia: Despatches from the Colonial Office,

386 SELECT ^DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HfxSTORY

1840-60. Despatches to the Colonial Office, 1837-70.
(South Australian Archives.)

1 1 . ^Mutes at Large.

12. Swan River Papers. (Western Australian Archives.)

B. Other Primary Sources

1. Macarthur, J. : Mew South Wales, Its prese?it state and
future prospects. 1837.

2. Wentworth, W. G.: A Statistical, Historical, and Political
Description of Mew South Wales. 1819.

3. Newspapers:

[a) The Australian.

(h) The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal.

(d) The Sydney Herald.

Section 8

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

The material in this section is a supplement to the economic
and social history illustrated in the previous sections. It "'does
not, however, attempt to complete that material. Some quite
important topics do not lend themselves to brief extracts.
Others have not as yet been combed over by specialists, and,
for reasons stressed in the Introduction, it seemed more prudent
to omit these rather than introduce doubtful material. So the
section begins with a list of those topics, and the sources where
the student may at least begin to find information.

1. Currency

[a) S. J. Butlin: “The Dollar System in New South Wales and

Tasmania, 1822-42”. (Published in Historical
Studies^ VoL 1, No. 4.)

[b) T. A. Coghlan: Labour and Industry in Australia^ Pt I, Ch. 5 ;

PtII, Ch. 7; PtIII, Ch. 8.

2. Wages and Prices

[a) Appendices to the Reports of the Select Committees on
Immigration. V, and P, of the Legis, Coun. of M.S,W. 1835
et seq,

{b) T. A. Coghlan: Labour and Industry in Australia^ Pt I, Chs. 4
and 9; Pt II, Ch. 8; Pt III, Chs. 6 and 7.

3. Industry and Trade

[a) J. T. Bigge: Agriculture and Trade, pp. 51-3.

{b) P. Cunningham: Two Years in New South Wales ^ Vol. II
pp. 105-7.

ic) T. A. Coghlan: Labour and Industry in Australia^ Pt I, Ch. 9;
Pt II, Ch. 8; Pt III, Ch. 9.

4. Poverty

[a) J. T. Bigge: Agriculture and Trade^ pp. 82-3.

ib) Report of the Select Committee on the Petition from

388 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

Distressed Mechanics and Labourers. V. and P, of the
Legis. Coun. of N.S.W, 1843.

(r) Report of the Select Committee on Distressed Labourers.

VrandP. of the Legis Com, ofN,S,W, 1844, VoL II.

[d] Annual Reports of the Benevolent Society of New South
Wales, P^820-50.

5. Communications

(a) J. T. Bigge: Agriculture and Trade, pp. 40-1.

(b) P. Cunningham: Two Years in Mew South Wales^ Vol. I,

pp. 69-72.

{d) The advertisement columns in the press.

Even the topics chosen are rather slightly illustrated because
of lack of space, and students should use the additional
references in the notes to each section.

A. Finance.

B. Whaling.

G. Farming.

D. Population.

£. Classes and Class Relations.

F. Masters and Servants.

G. Town Life.

H. Leisure*

L Australian Behaviour.

A. Finance

1. The Creation of the Bank of New South Wales. 1817.

( J. T. Bigge : Agriculture and Trade, p. 65.)

[Note: For further information see A. L. G. Mackay: The Australian Banking
and Credit System, Ch. 3. See especially p. 19 for list of banks created in Australia
between 1817 and 1850.]

The establishment of the bank of New South Wales in the
early part of the year 1817, has greatly added to the facility of
commercial transactions within the colony.

The evils of a paper circulation, issued upon the credit of indiv-
iduals, had become the subject of universal complaint, and had
defied all the measures of restraint or correction that from time
to time had been applied to them.

Supported by the patronage and influence of the local govern-
ment several of the inhabitants of the colony met together, and
after agreeing upon the great expediency of establishing a bank,
drew up some rules and regulations, that were submitted to
Governor Macquarie.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 389

Relying upon the assurances of the highest legal authority in
the colony, and with a well grounded conviction, that, unless the
privileges of a chartered incorporation were granted to the sub-
scribers, their efforts to establish the bank would not be successful.
Governor Macquarie conferred upon them, in a charter under
the seal of the colony, a right of immunity from all risk or liability
beyond the amount of the shares they subscribed. The bank was
declared to be established for the general and customary uses of
deposit, loan and discount, with a sanction to charge interest
at ten per cent for the same, on a fund or capital stock of ^^20,000
sterling, which was to be raised by shares of ;^200 each. The charter
was granted for the term of seven years; and the subscribers were
constituted a body corporate and joint-stock company, under
the name and title of the “President and Company of the Bank of
New South Wales,” the stock being made transferable and with
succession, together with all such powers, rights and capacities
as are usually granted to chartered incorporations.

The charter further declared, that the bank was to be managed
by seven of the proprietors, who were to be called directors; and
who, as well as the president, were to be elected once in every year
by ballot, at a general meeting of the proprietors.

The directors were authorized to issue notes and to declare
dividends, as well as to make regulations and bye-laws for the
management of the business of the bank; with a provision for their
conformity to the principles of the charter, and subject to the
confirmation of the general meeting of the proprietors.

The amount of shares subscribed was 12,600; and notes are
issued by the bank for 2s. 6d., 5s. and 10s., £l and £5; and on
the 1st January 1821, the notes in circulation amounted to ;^5,902.

The rates of dividend declared in the half years of 1819 were
twelve per cent, in the first half year of 1820 nine per cent, and
in the second half year and the first of 1821, they were reduced to
six per cent.

2. The Rate of Interest. 1834.

(T. Callaghan: Acts and Ordinances^ Vol. II, p. 1278.)

An Act for removing Doubts respecting the application to
New South Wales of the Laws and Statutes of England
relating to Usury, and to limit and define the rate of Interest
which may be recovered in cases where it hath not been
previously agreed between the Parties. 5 Will. IV, No. 10.
(5th August 1834.)

[Note: This is generally referred to as the Forbes Act. See also the Act 5
Viet., No. 9. For a comment on the significance of this Act see B. Fitzpatrick:
British Imperialism and Australia^ p. 373.]

390 SELECT bOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

WHERE^AS it is expedient to remove all doubts respecting
the application to New South Wales of the Laws and Statutes
of England, relating to Usury, and to limit and define the rate of
interest ^for the forbearance of money which may be recovered
in any Court of Law or Equity in cases wherein the rate of interest
has not been fixedly the parties before the Court: Be it therefore
enacted and declared, by His Excellency the Governor of New
South Wales, with the advice of the Legislative Council thereof,
That the Laws and Statutes of England relating to Usury, shall
be deemed, taken, and adjudged not to extend to the said Colony
or its dependencies, or to be in force within the same.

II. And be it further enacted, That in all cases where interest, for
the loan of money, or upon any other contract, may be lawfully
recovered or allowed in any action or suit in any Court of Law
or Equity, but where the rate of such interest hath not been
previously agreed upon by or between the parties, it shall not be
lawful for the party entitled to interest, to recover or be allowed
in any such action or suit, above the rate of eight pounds for the
interest or forbearance of one hundred pounds for a year, and so
after that rate, for a greater or lesser sum, or for a longer or shorter
time.

RICHARD BOURKE, GOVERNOR.

3. The Rate of Interest in Van Diemen’s Land, 1830.

(F. Stops: Statutes of Tasmania from 1th George 4:th (1826) to 46th
Victoria^ Vol. IV, p. 2203.)

An Act to prevent Doubts as to the Application of the Statutes
of Usury. 11 Geo. IV, No. 6. (24 April 1830.)

[Note: For a comment on this see B. Fitzpatrick: British Imperialism and
Australiay p. 373. For a different opinion see R. M, Hartwell: The Van
Diemgn’s Land Economy, 1820-50 (an unpublished thesis in the Mitchell
Library). The main point made by Mr Hartwell is that the Usury Act did not
affect the rate of interest in Van Diemen’s Land.]

Whereas it is expedient to prevent Doubts as to the application
of the Statutes of Usury within this Colony —

Be it therefore declared and enacted by His Excellency Colonel
George Arthur, Lieutenant-Governor of the Island of Van Diemen’s
Land and its Dependencies with the advice of the Legislative
Council that the Laws or Statutes relating to Usury or any Prov-
isions thereof which were in force in England on the twenty-fifth
day of July one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight do not
extend nor have extended to this Colony and shall severally be
deemed and taken not to have been or to be at any time in force
within the same.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

391

4, Tile Reason for the Forbes^Act, 1834,

(Ev. of J. B. Montefiore to the Sub-Committee of the Legislative
Council of N.S.W, on the Interest Bill, pp. 195-6. V. aM P. of the
Legis. Com, 'of JV.S, W. 1 832-7.)

fNoTE: See the evidence of the other witnesses to th^ same committee. For
a different opinion see the letter of Mr Justice Burton to His Excellency the
Governor, 2 June 1834, printed in V. and P. of the Legis. Com, ^ N,S.W. 1832-7,
pp. 170-2. See also H.R.A. I, 24 pp. 156-8.]

What would be the effect of fixing a legal rate of interest tipon
the introduction of foreign capital? I think that passing a law
would have the effect of preventing respectable emigration; every
day money is flowing into the country from the high rate of interest
here, and the super- abundant capital at home, where only four
per cent, can be obtained. I consider the effect of fixing or lowering
the rate of interest would exclude the capitalist, and injure the
poor man, the borrower; because the introduction of money will
lower the rate of interest. In a commercial point of view, the rate
of interest is a barometer of the prosperity of every country in the
world; if you lower the rate of interest, you exclude so much capital;
the consequence of which is, you cramp commercial enterprise,
which in itself is an injury to the Colony. Money will always
regulate its own value. I know money is lent at fifteen and twenty
per cent, but I am sure that in most of such cases the capital will
be lost. It is the high rate of interest now prevailing here, which
brings money into the Colony. I do not think that fixing a rate,
even at ten per cent, would be advisable, because there will always
be a fixed rate in fair transactions — a self-created and self-regulated
interest, as is the case now, namely, ten per cent., which is what
I should term the legitimate interest of New South Wales at the
present time. I think the introduction of a large amount of capital
would bring down the rate of interest to eight and seven and a
half per cent. . . .

5. The Lien on Wool Act- 1843.

(T. Callaghan : Acts and Ordinances.)

An Act to give a preferable Lien on Wool, from season to
season, and to make Mortgages of Sheep, Cattle, and Horses,
valid, without delivery to the Mortgagee. 7 Viet., No. 3.
(15th September 1843.)

[Note: This Act v^as repealed by 9 Viet., No. 30, and other provisions sub-
stituted. This Act was, however, disallowed — see N.S.W. Government Gazette of
27 August 1847. The Act 11 Viet., No. 4 again repealed the original Aet, and
substituted for a limited time other provisions. Doubts in this Act were removed
by 11 Viet., No. 58, which was re-enacted by 16 Viet., No. 11, continued by
19 Viet., No. 4, and perpetuated by 23 Viet., No. 9. See also 31 Viet., No. 24.

392 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

For a comment on the importance of these Acts see B. Fitzpatrick: The British
Empire in Australia, pp". 1 50- 1 .]

WHERSAS, in the present depression of the farming interest,
it is expedient, and would tend greatly to increase the credit
of and afford relief to owners of sheep, to enable them to give
valid liens upon their wool, from season to season, without parting
with the possession or management of the sheep: Be it therefore
enacted by His Excellency the Governor of New South Wales,
with*" the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof,
that in all cases where any person shall make any bona fide advance
of money or goods, to any proprietor of sheep, on condition of
receiving in payment, or as security only for such advance, the
wool of the then next ensuing clip of such proprietor, and where
such agreement shall be made in the form or to the effect of the
schedule A, appended to this Act, and shall be duly registered
within thirty days after the date of such agreement, by leaving a
true copy thereof, duly verified on oath before the Registrar of
the Supreme Court of New South Wales, or the Deputy Registrar
of the Court at Port Phillip, or any other officer of the said Courts
respectively, duly authorised to administer an oath in the office
of the Registrar or Deputy Registrar of such of the said Courts
within the jurisdiction of which the proprietor of the said sheep
and wool shall be resident, the person making such advance shall
be entitled to the whole wool mentioned in such agreement; and
that the possession of the same by the said proprietor shall be,
to all intents and purposes in the law, the possession of the person
or persons making such purchase or advance: Provided that when
at any time such advance be repaid, with such interest and com-
mission as may have been specified in such agreement, the possession
and property of the said wool shall revest in said proprietor. . . .

B. Whaling

6. Catching a Whale. 1830 c.

(H. T. Cheever: The Whale and his Captors; or The Whaleman's
Adventures^ pp. 36-8.)

For the first time in our now ten- weeks’ passage ... on this New
Zealand cruising ground we heard . . . that life-kindling sound to
a weary whaleman, There She Blows! The usual questions and
orders from the deck quickly followed. “Where away?” “Two
points on the weather bow!” “How far off?” “A mile and a half!”
“Keep your eye on her!” “Sing out when we head right!” ... in a
short time, when we were deemed near enough, the captain gave
orders to “Stand by and lower” for one a little more than half a
mile to windward.

Three boats’ crews pulled merrily away, glad of something

EtJONOMIG AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

393

to stir their blood, and with eager hope to obtain the o^ly material
wherewith to fill their ship and make good their ^‘lay’h The whale
was going leisurely to windward, blowing every now,^nd again
two or three times, then ^‘turning tail”, ‘‘up flukes”, and, sinking.
The boats “headed” after him, keeping a distance of nearly one
quarter of a mile from each other, to scatter 1 . . their chances.

Fortunately, as the oarsmen were “hove up,” tha4; is, had their
oars a-peak, . . . the huge creature rose hard by the captain’s boat,
and all the harpooner in the bow had to do was to plunge hi§ two
keen cold irons, which are always secured to one tow-line, into
the monster’s blubber sides. This he did so well as to hit the “fish’s
life” at once, and make him. spout blood forthwith . . , the sudden
piercing of the barbed harpoons to his very vitals made him caper
and run most furiously.

The boat spun after him with almost the swiftness of a top,
. . . for the space of an hour. During this time another boat “got
fast” to him with its harpoons, and the captain’s cruel lance had
several times struck his vitals. He was killed, as whalemen call it,
that is mortally wounded, an hour before he went into “his flurry,”
and was really dead or turned up on his back.

The loose boat then came to the ship for a hawser to fasten round
his flukes; which being done, the captain left his irons in the carcass,
and pulled for the ship, in order ... to “cut him in.” This done,
and the mammoth carcass secured to the ship by a chain round the
bitts, they proceeded ... to fasten the cutting-in tackle. The
captain and two mates then went over the sides on steps well secured,
and having each a breast-rope to steady them and lean upon. The
cooper then passed them the long-handled spades, which he was
all the time grinding and whetting, and they fell lustily to work,
chopping off the blubber.

First came one of the huge lips which . . . was hooked . . . stripped
off, and hoisted on board by the windlass. It was very compact
and dense, and covered with barnacles like Brobdignag lice. ^

Next came one of the fore-fins ; after that the other lip, and then
the upper jaw along with all that peculiar substance called whale-
bone, through which the animal strains his food. . . .

Next came the lower jaw and throat, together with the tongue
which latter alone must have weighed fifteen hundred or two
thousand pounds; an enormous mass of fat, not however so firm
and tough as the blubber. . . .

After this was hoisted in, the rest of the way was plain sailing,
the blubber of the body being cut and peeled off, in huge unbroken
strips, as the carcass rolled over and over, being heaved on by the
windlass, then hooked into by the blubber hooks, and hoisted in
by the men all the time heaving at the windlass.

394 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

As often Ls a piece, nearly reaching to the top of the main mast,
was got over the deck, they would attack it with great boarding-
knives, an4 cutting a hole in it at a place nearly even with the
deck, thrust in the strap and toggel of the '^cutting blocks”, that
they might still have a purchase of the carcass below. Then they
would sever the hiTge piece from the rest, and lower it into ‘'the
blubber room^ .between decks, where two men had as much as
they could do to cut it into six or eight pound pieces and stow it
away*. It was from nine to eleven inches thick, and looked like
very large fat pork slightly coloured with saltpetre.

The magnificent, swan-like albatrosses were round us by hun-
dreds, eagerly seizing and fighting for every bit and fragment that
fell off into the water. . . .

Before the blubber was all off, the huge entrails of the whale
burst like barrels, at the wounds made by the spades and lances.
I hoped the peeled carcass would float for the benefit of the gonies
and other birds. But no sooner was the last fold of blubber off,
the flukes hoisted in, and the great chain detached, than it sank
plumb down. . . .

About eight o’clock in the evening, the wind increased almost
to a gale, making it impossible to try out that night. But today
. . . the business has begun in good earnest; the blubber-men
cutting up in the blubber room: others pitching it on deck; others
forking it over to the side of the “try-works;” two men standing
by a “horse” with a mincing knife to cleave the pieces into many
parts for the more easy trying out . . . The boat-steerers and one
of the mates are pitching it into the kettles, feeding the fires with
the scraps, and bailing the boiling fluid into copper tanks, from
which it is the duty of another to dip into casks. The
decks present that lively though dirty spectacle which whalemen
love, their faces all begrimed and sooty, and smeared with oil,
so that you cannot tell if they be black or white. . . .

Th^ whale now taken proves to be a cow whale, forty-five
feet long and twenty-five round, and it will yield between seventy
and eighty barrels of right whale oil.

7. Commercial Products of the Sperm Fishery. 1830 c.

(F. D. Bennett: Marrative of a Whaling Voyage, Vol. II, pp. 223-7.)

The oil obtained from the Sperm Whale is the purest of all the
animal oils employed in commerce; and is, consequently, the one
most valued for domestic illumination, as well as for lubricating
the more delicate kinds of machinery.

It is peculiar in being almost entirely destitute of odour; while
other whale oils . . . although equally prepared from the recent
blubber, and by a process precisely similar . , . have a strong and

EtiONOMIG AND SOCIAL GONDITI^DNS

395

disagreeable smell. In the state in which it is received from the
whaler, Sperm-oil contains a variable proportion of Spermaceti,
and other gross matters, technically named ^'the foot” ; it separated
from these by being strained through woollen bags, aiid is then fit
for its ordinary uses. . . .

. . . Spermaceti . . . is . . . most abundant in tht? Sperm Whale, and
commerce is supplied from this species alone. It is -l^ery generally
diffused through the blubber, but obtains in largest quantity,
and in the greatest state of purity, in the fatty structure of the head,
whence its technical name ‘‘head-matter”. . , .

Crude Spermaceti, as newly obtained from the case of the whale,
is fluid, transparent, nearly colourless, without odour, and has
a bland and creamy taste, not unlike that of very fresh butter.
It does not concrete at the ordinary temperature of the tropics,
at sea, . . . but in low temperatures, ... it assumes a dull-white hue
and the consistence of lard. . . .

At present its use in pharmacy is limited to the composition of
cerates and ointments. ... Its principal commercial value is derived
from the extent to which it is employed as a substitute for wax,
in the manufacture of candles.

Ambergris is the most rare and costly product of the Sperm
Whale, and one peculiar to this species of Cetacean. ... It was
usually found floating on the seas of warm climates, and was gener-
ally considered to be of a resinous or bituminous nature ; and when
subsequently detected in the intestines of the Cachalot, a doubt
was still entertained of its true character, and whether it had not
been swallowed by the animal rather than produced within its
body. . . . Ambergris is a morbid concretion in the intestines of
the Cachalot, deriving its origin either from the stomach or biliary
ducts, and allied in its nature to gall-stones. . , .

The only use made of Ambergris in this country is as a perfume,
and for this purpose it is chiefly prepared in the form of an alcoholic
solution, or essence. It possesses a peculiar property of incr«?asing
the power of other perfumes to which it may be added . . . .The
retail price it bears in London is about one guinea the ounce. . . .

8. The Whaling Trade. 1820.

( J. T. Bigge : Agriculture and Trade, pp; 56-7.)

The restrictions upon the home trade of the colony to which
I have now adverted, have been trifling in comparison to that which
has been experienced by the inhabitants in their attempts to engage
in the whale fishery, in consequence of the heavy duties imposed
on the importation of train oil, blubber, and spermaceti oil,
into Great Britain, taken and caught wholly by His Majesty’s
subjects usually residing in a British plantation or settlement; the

396 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN h'iSTORY

duty upon t)lack whale oil, amounting to £8 8s. per ton, and on
spermaceti oil, to £24 18s. 9d. Previous to the enactment of these
duties the^ whale fishery had presented an ample source, both of
enterprise and profit to the inhabitants of New South. Wales and
Van Diemen’s Land. Small vessels, not exceeding 90 or 100 tons
burthen, were fitted out at Sydney, and were very successful in
prosecuting tfee fishery, even within sight of the coasts. The bays
of the western coasts of Van Diemen’s Land abound with black
whales, and during my residence in the settlement, I observed some
British vessels at anchor in the river Derwent, within twelve miles
of Hobart Town, engaged in the fishery, while all participation
in it was virtually denied to the inhabitants. The coasts of New
South Wales are equally the resort of black whales at all periods
of the year, and in the winter season the spermaceti whales repair
to the north-east coasts; several of the native-born youths of the
colony found it a profitable employment in the colonial vessels
fitted out for this trade, and the oil procured in it was brought
to Sydney, and deposited in warehouses for the freight of vessels
returning to England; a more natural and profitable course of
commercial employment, or one that was more advantageous
to the inhabitants, could not have been devised. It is however
necessary to add, that all the objections that have been stated
to apply to commercial intercourse with these settlements, as long
as they are occupied and treated as receptacles of convicts, would
have applied, and still continue to apply, to the particular branch
of the whale fishery that is conducted upon the coasts. In Van
Diemen’s Land, where it is found to be most easy and practicable,
the attempts of the convicts to seize and carry off large vessels,
have been most frequent and daring. . . .

The repeal of the present duties on the importation of black and
spermaceti whale oil, or blubber and whale fins, fished and taken
by the inhabitants of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land,
and the reduction of those duties to the amount paid on oil, the
produce of fish taken on the shores of Newfoundland, namely,
10s. 6d. per ton for train oil and blubber, and 15s. 9d. on spermaceti
oil, are measures that cannot fail to be productive of lasting benefit
to the colony. In a general point of view, it would afford employment
to a large proportion of native youths of the colony, and inure them
to habits of activity and enterprize, and, as far as it regards the
interests of commerce, it would add to the few means the colony
now, or for some time will possess, of furnishing freight to the
vessels that bring consignments of manufactured goods from Europe,
or that are employed in the transportation of convicts.

[Note: For other material see the indexes to the first ten volumes of Series
I of

EC*ONOMIG AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

397

G. Farming

9. Tlie Chances of Success for a Small Settler. 1820?

(J. T. Bigge: Agriculture and Trade^ p. 24.)

In my inquiry respecting the expenses of cultivating the smaller
farms of fifty acres, I obtained from Mr. Oxley, the sur^yor-general,
a very detailed answer. Assuming a period of three years, and that
the operations of the first are commenced and continued by a settler
on fifty acres of land, with assistance from government in the article
of subsistence for six months, and with sufficient of his own funds
to provide it himself for the remainder, he considers that, in that
year, the expenses of cultivation would exceed the profits by £5 19s. ;
in the second year, that the profits would exceed the expenses by
10s.; and that, in the third year, they would be reduced to
5^36 8s. To this amount, however, is to be added the value of
poultry raised on the farms, which, with the value of the settler’s
own labour, may be estimated at ^^15 more. In the whole of this
calculation, it is assumed that the grantee of the fifty acres possesses
some knowledge of farming; that he is enabled to procure manure
sufficient to renovate his land in the third year ; that the quality of
it is such as to enable him to bring the whole of it into ultimate
cultivation; and that the market will constantly afford him 10s.
per bushel for his wheat, and 4s. for the maize. In these cases,
Mr. Oxley considers that the net receipts of his farm may be safely
estimated at £60 per annum, and that with care they may be con-
tinued at that amount.

For the ordinary class of settlers, to whom sixty acres of land are
usually allotted, the prospect afforded by this calculation is in very
many cases a forbidding one. It supposes industrious habits, some
portion of agricultural knowledge, and the application of the
annual savings to the purchase of agricultural implements, build-
ings, and lastly the operation of a steady demand for produce.

To settlers possessing a moderate share of capital, some previous
acquaintance with agricultural pursuits, and intelligence in the
selection of land, the calculation is on the other hand not
discouraging; and when applied to more extensive grants, and
united with the profits to be derived from grazing, may afford
to those who are emigrating to New South Wales, the means of
ascertaining the real extent of the sacrifice that they are making,
or of the expectations that they may justly indulge.

PN[ote: For a detailed account of farming in New South Wales up to 1820
see J. T. Bigge; Agriculture and Trade, pp. 10-13,]

398 SELECT •DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN iflSTORY

10. Emancipists as Farmers. 1825.

(P. Cunningham: Two Tears in Vol. II, pp. 179-80.)

The pif>priety of conferring land on emancipated convicts has
been questioned by many here; inasmuch as having generally no
primary capital to^begin with, they are consequently, it is alleged,
either forced to borrow money to improve the land at such an
exorbitant interest as to swallow up the whole of the proceeds,
or to dispose of the same, from an impossibility of effecting its
cultivation. The land meanwhile is exhausted by their unskilful
agricultural operations, and is finally delivered over into the
possession of some trafficker in rum, as a quittance for the advances
of that beverage they made by way of mortgage upon it. This is
the history of probably three-fourths of the small emancipist
settlers, whose universal family-crest seems to be comprehended
in the potential reality of a rum bottle, and motto in Dum vidimus
vivamus. Disastrous as the course of these individuals has generally
been to themselves, yet they have undoubtedly conferred consider-
able benefits upon the public, supplying, as they have done, our
markets with abundance of fruits, vegetables, pigs, poultry, and
other second-rate substantial, which the wealthy settlers will
not condescend to rear; while serving in some measure, like the
American backwoodsmen, the office of pioneers to prepare the way
for a more healthy population.

11. Reasons for Crop Failures in New South Wales. 1820.

(J. T. Bigge: Agriculture and Trade, pp. 19-22.)

Independent of the effects of an uncertain climate, that is not
generally favourable to the growth of European grains, and of a
degree of heat that either too suddenly or too quickly follows a
long series of heavy rains, and scorches rather than matures it,
the smaller grains of New South Wales, though equal in quality
to tBose of the south of Europe, have to contend with frequent
blights at Bathurst, and either from the proper seasons for sowing
not having yet been discovered, or from some other cause, the
wheat has been always affected with smut; and in a few years,
in which the season has been very dry, an insect, denominated the
fiy-moth, was observed to be generated in the grain produced in
the settled districts, before it was removed from the field. The
insect continued in it after being stacked, and when opened or
exposed to the air, a great proportion of the grain was found to be
consumed. A greater and more constant loss of grain is sustained
from the devastation of the weevil after the wheat is stacked, and
very few of the settlers in New South Wales possess granaries, or
even barns, for its protection from the sudden vicissitudes of weather.

399

E*CONOMIG AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

The general state of the farm buildings in the colony is indeed
much worse than might have been expected from the abundance
of materials that are furnished from the woods. Two reasons only
are assignable for such neglect, — the expense and difficulty of
procuring mechanical labour, and the careless and improvident
habits of a large proportion of the settlers. . . .

The great causes that have operated unfavotirably to the
agriculture of New South Wales have been the uncertainty of the
demand for produce, together with the difficulties in obtaining
access to the government stores, and the expense and risk of
cultivation, either as arising from the climate, [See note below] the
frequent varieties of the soil, or from the carelessness and unskilful-
ness of the convict servants.

[Note: For information on this point see J, T. Bigger Agriculture and Trade,
pp. 22-3, 50.]

12. Agriculture in Van Diemen’s Land. 1820.

(J, T. Bigge: Agriculture and Trade, p. 25.)

The houses are principally built of wood, and thatched with
straw or shingled. Stone of a good quality has been found in the
district of Pitt Water, but has not yet been worked.

The smaller settlers in these districts consist of disbanded marines,
and the families of the convicts that were formerly established at
Norfolk Island.

There are also settlers whose terms of service have expired or
have been remitted, and who have purchased land from the
original grantees.

The produce of the land consists chiefly of wheat, a very little
barley, and potatoes. The quality of the wheat produced in this
part of Van Diemen’s Land is considered to be superior to that of
New South Wales. The barley has not been found to succeed so well;
but the cultivation of this grain and of oats has hitherto been* very
inconsiderable, and has not been fairly tried. The potatoes of Van
Diemen’s Land, especially those that are grown on the lighter
soils, are fully equal to the best potatoes of English growth, and
yield very abundant returns.

If the cultivation was conducted with an ordinary degree of
skill, the produce of wheat in these districts could not fail to be
very abundant; .at present it is estimated upon an average of five
years, ending March 1820, to be about twenty-four bushels per
acre. The cultivated lands of each farm are entirely open, and
except upon an estate of Colonel Davey and one of Mr. Lord, I
did not observe a single fence.

The cultivation of artificial grasses in the southern part of Van
Diemen’s Land seemed to be altogether neglected in the year 1820,

400 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

although a ^striking and solitary instance of its success and of its
profits was exhibited upon the estate of an individual at a little
distance fr®m Hobart Town.

From the difficulty that now exists of obtaining pa-sturage for
their cattle upon their estates, the settlers, especially those who do
not possess more tlian fifty acres, are in the habit of sending their
flocks to a considerable distance from the cultivated grounds,
under a permission that they obtain from the lieutenant-governor,
and Called a ticket of occupation. A multiplication of the quantity
of stock is thus obtained; but it is attended with a great deterioration
of its quality, in consequence of the little care that is taken to
separate the flocks.

13. The Achievements of a Farmer at Swan River. 1834.

(F. C. Irwin: The State and Position of Western Australia, pp. 57-60.)

With a view of showing what can be done by a single energetic
mind, it may be useful to give a slight sketch of what Edwards
has accomplished. One of the first things he set about was, to
prepare materials for a substantial house, for which purpose he
made and burnt bricks and tiles out of the clay required to be
removed to clear the foundation of the house, thereby saving the
expense and labour of carriage. He had to explore the country
to ascertain where the best lime could be procured. This he found,
at the time, no nearer than in one of the bays of Melville Water,
below Perth; whence, after burning, he brought it up in boats.
The timber, which was mahogany, cut down on the estate, was
sawn and prepared by his son, the carpenter, with the assistance
of another man; while he himself was the bricklayer and builder.
The house is double, consisting of two stories, and is one of the
largest in the colony.

In the farm-yard he has many ingenious contrivances to meet
the wants and habits of its various tribes. His geese and ducks
are provided with ample ponds, in the sides of which he has con-
structed dwellings suitable to them, where they find protection
from the heat, and security from the native dog, the only animal
they have to fear. His cattle and pigs are kept in fine order.

In the improvement of the gardens he takes peculiar delight,
and is very successful; having a good knowledge of horticulture, •
acquired by serving an apprenticeship to a market gardener.
The spot he fixed upon for his first one was a somewhat elevated
morass, on sloping ground, separated from the house by a ravine,
and covered with rank vegetation, owing to latent springs. These,
after burning off the surface, he dug out, and formed into circular
wells of close and substantial brick-work, rising several layers
above the surface: from these wells, at different elevations, he

40i

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

is enabled to conduct the water in channels to almo^^ every part
of the garden. When the last accounts left, he was constructing
earthen pipes for the purpose of completing his plans o^ irrigation,
and also for conveying water across the ravine to the height on
which the house is situated. In this garden, and in another larger
one, hereafter to be noticed, almost every kinB. of vegetable, and
as many sorts of fruit-trees as have been introduced from tropical
and extra-tropical countries, are found to flourish. Among the
former was the mangel-wurzel, already mentioned as having a
root six feet in circumference; the tomato grows here luxuriantly,
weighed down with the load of its beautiful fruit, which gives
so fine a flavour to sauces, soups, &c. Among the fruit-trees, he
has raised many hundred almonds and Cape-gooseberries, the
latter a delicious fruit, producing every month; and also figs
and vines in abundance, the latter bearing grapes of a fine and
rich flavour.

In front of the house are about two hundred acres of rich
meadow, encircled nearly by the river. The situation of a part
of this meadow attracted his notice, from its being inclosed
between the river, and a natural moat of a semicircular form.
This moat he dug out, to a considerable depth and breadth,
throwing the soil of the inner banks of the inclosure, which he
faced with a firm wall of green turf, and made to slope down
gradually on the inner side. Along the whole extent of this sloping
bank, which is of the finest alluvial soil, are planted in profusion
vegetables and fruit-trees. The bank shelves down to a walk made
all round within the inclosure, an area of about thirty acres.
Most of the interior is now under cultivation, bearing crops of
wheat, oats, and barley. He intends, both here and in the garden
before mentioned, to shelter some of the walks from the sun by
trellised vines. There is also, adjoining this latter garden, and
separated from the house by the ravine fore alluded to, a small
rocky hill, favourable for vines, and which he has marked out
for a vineyard. In addition to the above, is laid out — ^in front
of the house, and on the slope of the hill, where there are no
springs — a winter garden, in which he has displayed considerable
ingenuity and taste. His two smaller gardens are from one to
two acres each.

In his agricultural pursuits Edwards has been equally successful.
He seems to have acquired his knowledge of farming, while
following his trade of a master-brickmaker in Gloucestershire,
in consequence of having purchased a few acres of the Forest of
Dean, which he reclaimed and made into a farm. At times when
the necessaries of life have been very scarce and dear in the colony,
he has provided for his family in abundance; and has added to

402 SELECT f)OGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

their comfolts within the last two years by availing himself of
his knowledge of malting and brewing. This indefatigable man
has found 4ime for performing the location duties on an adjoining
estate, the half of which, amounting to from two to three thousand
acres, he obtained as a return from the owner, himself a merchant
at Fremantle. He ^iso made the bricks, and cons^tructed the walls,
of a dwelling-house recently erected by Mr. Bull, who resides
within a mile of him. The writer has occupied a much larger
space* than he intended with these minute details, partly to do
justice to a faithful and valuable servant, and principally with
a view of conveying some useful instruction to those who may
have yet to learn what are the requisites for a successful colonist.

[Note: See also N. Ogle: The Colony of Western Australia, pp. 132-5.]

14, The Invention of a Reaping and Threshing Machine.
1843-4.

(F. Lancelott: Australia As It Is, Vol. I, loc. cit.)

At the period of agricultural depression, in 1844, Mr. Ridley,
an intelligent South Australian colonist, produced his admirable
reaping and threshing machine, which may be said to have saved
the whole agricultural interest from ruin. The body of the machine
is about 4 feet 6 inches broad, covered in, built upon wheels
like a cart, but much stronger, and driven forward through the
standing corn by two horses or bullocks. Two sets of cogs are
fixed to the inside of the wheels near the felloes, which drive two
small pinions. At the ends of the rod on which the pinions are
fixed, are two wheels about 2 feet in diameter; these drive the
drum, or beaters, which make 600 revolutions per minute. At
the fore-end of the machine, in front of the beaters, is a metallic
comb, the teeth of which are about 18 inches long and 1 inch
broad; and so placed, that as the machine is pushed forward,
all thf: ears within the entire width of the wheel tracks are caught
up by it — the straw only suffered to pass out, and the heads or
wheat-ears guided to the lower cylinder, where they are received
by the beaters, and the grain threshed out, and thrown up a
curve, whence it falls into the receiving-box at the bottom of
the cart, which in general will hold about 9 bushels, and the
chaff flies off through a kind of flue at the back end of the cart.
With this machine it is usual to reap and thresh from 8 to 10
acres of wheat per day. The crop must be thoroughly ripe, and
perfectly dry when the operation is performed, otherwise the
beaters, instead of threshing out the grain, will drive the ears
back whole to the end of the machine (pp. 105-6).

Wheat harvest commences on the plains at the close of

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITi5nS 403

November or early in December, and in the higher dis^lricts about
a month later. Many reap and thresh with the machine, which
performs the operation with speed, with few hands, ar?d at one-
third the cost of reaping and threshing by hand. There are,
however, two great objections to using the machine. First most
of the drake, wild oats, and other weeds growing in the crop,
are threshed out, by passing in with the grain betvvben the teeth
of the comb, from whence they fail on to the land, and thereby
render the soil so ‘‘dirty”, that frequently the following crop
must of necessity be hay. Secondly, all the straw is left standing,
and as straw is worthless in the colony it must, to save expense
be cleared off by burning; and the performance of this operation
is very properly prohibited until after the 1st of April. If, as
frequently happens, rain set in before this period, the straw
becomes too wet to burn, and the farmer is compelled to make
the succeeding crop hay, by sowing a few grains, which with
what fell in reaping, will produce a good cutting; if inconvenient
to harrow it, he turns the cattle and horses into the field, and
they soon tread the seed in. These disadvantages attending
machine reaping, although, perhaps, of trifling import to the
wealthy agriculturist, render it imperative on the needy young
settler to prefer hand reaping, which is performed with a sickle,
as in this country; except that each man both reaps and binds
for himself (pp. 119-20).

15. Dairy Farming. 1850 c.

(F. Lancelott: Australia As It Is, Vol. I, pp. 125-7.)

The operations in the dairy are throughout the colony per-
formed in a primeval, make-shift manner; indeed, many of the
proprietors are ignorant of the most approved European methods
of making butter and cheese; and much that is indifferent in
quality is brought to market and readily sold, as the dei^and
usually exceeds the supply. Samples of butter are, however,
occasiofially produced that equal in quality that of Britain; and
although most of the cheese resembles in taste and appearance
the better quality of those lately so extensively imported to this
country from America, there is every reason to believe, that,
when the cattle are as well tended, and the manipulations are
performed as carefully and judiciously as in this country, that
both the colonial butter and cheese will be of unequalled excel-
lence. Butter is in the greatest demand in winter: it must be kept
in a cool cellar in summer, or the hot weather turns it to oil.
Cheese is in request all the year round.

Few farmers feed their cows otherwise than by turning them
out on the run. At the large dairies the cows are milked only

404 SELECT •documents in AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
I

once a day, early in the morning; after which the calves are
allowed to accompany them on the run, where they remain in
charge oi»a boy until evening, when they are all driven home:
the cal\*es housed, and the cows sent back to the run, there to
remain until mustered on the following morning at milking-time.
Under this systerS the cows give only about half the quantity
of milk obtafned from the well-tended cows of Britain; this the
farmers deem a matter of little import, as most of them have
ext<ifisive runs, the rental of which is a mere nominal sum, so
that a deficiency in the supply of milk can always be made
up at no increase of outlay, beyond the cost of a few more cows.
It appears probable that the climate influences the quantity of
milk, for many of the small farmers and gardeners well feed and
house their cows, and milk hem regularly and carefully twice
a day, morning and evening, and yet the milk, although excellent
in quality, is invariably deficient in quantity.

Fowls, ducks, pigeons, geese, guinea-fowls, and turkeys, are
plentiful throughout the rural districts and towns. They require
little care or feeding, multiply much faster than in this country,
and are so generally kept, that go where you will the crowing
of cocks, the cooing of pigeons, and the quacking of ducks assail
the ear.

[Note: For a description of general farming practice in South Australia, see
F. Lancelott: Op, cit.^ Vol. I, Ch. 6.]

405

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDIItIONS

D. Population

16* Total Population of New South Wales, 1788-1851.

(For sources see note at end of figures.)

Tear

Population

Tear

Population

1788

1024

1820

23939

1790

591

1821

29783

1791

2887

1825

31016

1792

3120

1828

36598

1793

3016

1829

41437

1795

3388

1830

46276

1796

4016

1831

51115

1798

5000

1832

55954

1799

4746

1833

60794

1800

4958

1834

66228

1801

5515

1835

71662

1802

5975

1836

77096

1803

lYll

1837

85267

1804

7035

1838

97912

1805

7064

1839

114386

1806

6935

1840

129463

1807

7563

1841

130856

1810

10452

1842

157085

1811

10025

1843

164026

1812

10521

1844

173377

1813

12173

1845

181541

1814

.13116

1846

189609

1815

12911

1847

205009

1816

15175

1848

220474

1817

17265

1850

265503

1819

26026

1851

187243

[Note: The following sources were used to compile these figures:

Bigge J. T. : Agriculture and Trade.

Blair, D.: Cyclopaedia of Australasia. 1881.

Collins, D.: The English Colony of JVew South Wales. 1910 ed.

Commonwealth Tear Book. 1922, Ab. 15.

Historical Records of Australia.

Macarthur, J. : New South Wales, Its Present State and Future Prospects. 1837.
Madgwick, R. B.: Immigration into Eastern Australia, 1835-1847.

Martin, R. M.: British Colonies. 1843. (From Colonial Office Records.)
Martin, R. M. : British Colonies, Their History, Extent, Condition and Resources,
Part in. 1850.

Report of Select Committee on Transportation. P.P. 1812, 11, 341.
Report of Select Committee on Transportation. P.P. 1837-8, XXII, 669.
Report of Select Committee on the State of the Gaols. P.P. 1819, VII, 575.
Roberts, S. H.: The Squatting Age in Australia, 1835-1847.

Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Council of New South Wales 1840.]

406 SELECT d5gUMENTS in AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

17. Convict l^opiilation of New South Wales. 1788-1847.

(For sources

Date

see note at end of figures.)

Males Females

Total

Per cent, of
Total Population

1788

188

717

14:-2

1790

297

367

62-1

1791

2013

345

2358

81*6

1792

2105

360

2465

79*5

1793

1836

442

2278

75*6

1795

1625

554

2179

67-9

1796

1633

755

2388

59*5

1799

1244

500

1744

34-2

1800

1230

328

1558

31*6

1804

1985

601

2586

36*4

1805

1561

516

2077

29*8

1819

8920

1066

9986

38-3

1820

—

10873

45*4

1821

11342

893

12235

1826

15220

1093

16313

—

1827

15877

1172

17049

—

1828

16442

1544

16986

46-4

1830

—

18571

40-1

1831

—

21825

42-7

1832

—

24154

43-1

1833

—

23357

38-4

1834

—

25200

38-0

1835

—

27340

38*1

1836

25254

2577

27831

36-1

1837

—

32102

37-7

1840

—

38305

29-6

1841

23844

3133

26977

20-6

1843

—

20717

12-3

1844

—

T9175

1845

—

16843

9*3

1846

9653

912

10565

5*6

1847

—

6664

3-2

[Note : The following sources were used :

Big^, J. T- : Agriculture and Trade.

Historical Records of Australia, Series I.

Macarthur, J.: New South Wales, Its Present State and Future Prospects. 1837.
Martin, R. M.: British Colonies, 1843.

Martin, R. M.: British Colonies, Their History, Extent, Condition and Resources,
Part III, 1850.

Report of Select Committee on Transportation. P.P. 1837, XIX, 518.
Roberts, S. H.: The Squatting Age in Australia, 1835-1847.]

Historical Records of Australia, Series I and III,

Martin, R. M.: British Colonies, 1843.

Martin, R. M.: British Colonies, Their History, Extent, Condition and Resources,
Part III. 1850.

Report of Select Committee on the State of the Gaols. P.P. 1819, VII, 575.
Report of Select Committee on Transportation. P.P. 1837-8, XXII, 669.]

407

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

18. Total Popialation of Van Diemen’s Land. ISoJ-Sl.
(For sources see note at end of figures.)

Tear

Southern

Northern

Tof^l

Settlement

1803

—

1804

433

—

1805

465

301

766

1806

475

276

751

1807

488

—

1808

—

213

—

1809

—

111

—

1810

1062

259

1321

1813

1395 X

—

1814

1444

454

1898

1815

1438

495

1933

1816

1420

495

1915

1817

2554

560

3114

1818

2804 X

753 X

3557 X

1819

3282 X

988 X

4270 X

1820

3571 X

—

(5468)

1821

5542

1643

7185 X

1822

8612

1823

10009 X

1824

12643

1825

14512

1826

15312

1827

17133

1828

18408

1829

20265

1830

24504

1831

26830

1832

29079

1833

34450

1834 ^

37799

1835

40283

1836

43895

1838

45846

1839

44111

1840

46057

1841

51499

1842

58902

1843

60000 (approx.)

1844

62000 do.

1845

64000 do.

1846

66000 do.

1847

70164

1848

74741

1851

70130

[Note: 1. The figures followed by “x” are given with the military excluded
The census years were 1841, 1847 and 1851.

2. The following sources were used :

Bigge, J. T. Agriculture and Trade.

Commonwealth Tear Book. Vol, 15.

Note to this page continued at foot of opposite page

408 SELECT i50CUMENTS in AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

19. Convict population of Van Dienbien’s Land. 1804-49.

(For soujsces see note at end of figures.)

Per cent, of

Date

A^ale

Female

Total

Total Population

1804

360

400

—

1814

387

437

23-0

1815

421

471

24*1

18*16

—

629

32-8

1817

—

568

17-7

1819

1928

262

2190

47-1

1820

—

2956

72*8

1821

3490

337

3827

53-3

1822

4548

348

4996

58*0

1824

5467

411

5938

46-9

1825

6244

601

6845

47-1

1826

6051

711

6762

44-1

1827

6373

887

7260

42-4

1828

6724

725

7449

40-4

1829

7334

1150

8484

41-8

1830

8877

1318

10195

41-6

1831

10391

1627

12018

44-8

1832

11062

1644

12706

43-8

1833

—

15700

45-6

1834

13664

1874

15538

44*1

1835

14914

2054

16968

42-1

1836

17611

40-2

1839

17077

38-7

1840

17703

38-4

1841

16391

31-8

1842

20332

34*1

1847

24188

34-4

1848

28459

38-1

1849

26614

—

[Note : The following sources were used :

Bigge, J. T. : Agriculture and Trade.

Historical Records of Australia, Series I and III.

Martin, R. M. : British Colonies, 1843.

Martin, R. M. : British Colonies, Their History, Extent, Condition and Resources^
Part III, 1850.

Report of Select Committee on the State of the Gaols. P.P. 1819, VII, 575.
Report of Select Committee on Transportation. P.P. 1837, XIX, 518.]

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

409

20. Population of the Port Phillip District. 1836-51.

(For sources see note at end of figures.)

Tear '

Males

Females

Tdlal

1836

186

224

1837

984

280

1264

1838

3080

431

3511

1839

4104

1718

5822

1840

7254

3037

10291

1841

14391

6025

20416

1842

15691

8108

23799

1843

15892

8211

24103

1844

17626

9108

26734

1845

20624

10656

31280

1846

23531

14803

38334

1847

26004

16932

42936

1848

30697

20693

51390

1849

39556

26664

66220

1850

45495

30667

76162

1851

58235

39254

97489

[Note : The following sources were used :

Arthur Papers. Vol. 33.

Martin, R, M. : British Colonies, 1843.

Martin, R. M. : British Colonies, Their History, Extent, Condition and Resources,
Part III, 1850.

Hew South Wales Blue Book, 1841 and 1846.

Victorian Tear Book. 1874.

Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Council of New South Wales 1841.]

21. Population of Western Australia. 1830-48.

(For sources see note at end of figures.)

Tear

Total

1830

1500

1832

1500

1834

1600

1836

1549

1837

1847

1838

1928

1839

2154

1840

2354

1841

2760

1842

3476

1843

3853

1848

4622

[Note : The following sources were used :

Historical Records of Australia, Series III.

Martin, R. M. : British Colonies, 1843.

Martin, R. M. : British Colonies, Their History, Extent, Condition and Resources.
Part in, 1850.

Papers Relating to Swan River. P.P. 1838, XL, 687.]

410 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

22. Fopulalion of Soutli Australia. 1836-51.

(For sources see note at .end of figures.)

Tear

Total

1836

546

1838

6000

1839

10000

1840

14630

1841

14884

1842

16500

1843

17196

1844

18999

1845

22460

1846

25893

1847

31153

1848

38666

1849

52904

1850

63700

1851

66538

[Note : 1 . It was impossible to work out from the material available male
and female figures for each year. Some idea may be gained from the following:

Tear

Male

Female

Total

1836

412

134

546

1840

8272

6358

14630

1847

17531

13622

31153

1851

37321

29217

66538

2. The following sources were used:

Boothby, J. : A Statistical Sketch of South Australia.
South Australian Almanacs. 1845-51.

South Australian Archives.

South Australian Blue Books. 1840-7.

South Australian Parliamentary Papers 1857-8, No. 47.]

E, Classes and Class Relations

23. T^e Composition of the Population of New South Wales.

1820.

(J. T. Bigge: Agriculture and Trade, p. 78.)

The Population of New South Wales consists, first, of persons
who have gone out to the colony in a state of freedom, either as
civil servants, set lers and merchants, or of persons who, after
serving in the regiments stationed there, have entered upon those
pursuits. To these may be added a very few individuals who have
repaired to the colony from India, and have settled in it. Second,
of the children either of free persons or convicts, and who have been
born in the colony. Thirdly, those who, after having been trans-
ported under the sentence of the law for crime from England,
Scotland, and Ireland, and also from India, or the eastern colonies,

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

411

under sentences of courts martial, have become free expiration
of their terms of sentence, or remission of them by the governors
of the colony. Fourthly, of the convicts, whose terms oj service are
still subsisting; and lastly of those, whether free or convict, who
having been again convicted of offences in the colony, are suffering
punishment by the sentences of the colonial courts.

24. Attitude of Australian-Boru to Free Immigrants. 1815 c.

(Ev. of J. H. Bent to Select Committee on State of Gaols, p. 125.
P.P. 1819, VII, 575.)

Is there not in the colony great party differences existing between
the free settlers from England, and the free settlers after eman-
cipation? — No. I do not think there are great party differences
existing; the native youths, as they call themselves, those born in
the colony, I have heard, claim the rights of the aboriginal inhabi-
tants. They say they are solely entitled to have grants of land given
to them in preference to persons from Europe; when I say native
youths, I mean those who are born in the Colony, the descendants
of persons sent there; there is a feeling of that kind, but it does
not lead to any material differences.

Do they view the property acquired by the free settlers from
Europe with considerable jealousy? — I can hardly say whether
they do or not: I should think they do; I think they are jealous
of favours bestowed upon persons from Europe.

Is the opinion at all prevalent in the colony, that the colony is
for the convicts and their descendants, and not for free settlers
from the mother country? — I have heard such opinions expressed.

25. The Occupations of the Currency Men. 1825 c.

(P. Cunningham: Two Tears in N,S.W,^ Vol. II, pp. 48-9.) ^

The young men of low rank are fonder of binding themselves
to trades, or going to sea, than passing into the employ of the
settlers, as regular farm-servants. This no doubt arises partly from
their unwillingness to mix with the convicts so universally employed
on farms, partly from a sense of pride ; for, owing to convicts being
hitherto almost the sole agricultural labourers, they naturally
look upon that vocation as degrading in the same manner as white
men in slave colonies regard work of any kind, seeing that none
but slaves do work. It is partly this same pride, as much as the
hostile sentiments instilled into them by their parents, that makes
them so utterly averse to fill the situation of petty constables, or
to enlist as soldiers.

412 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

26. Attitaddof the Upper Classes in New South Wales to
the Workers. 1835-40 c.

(A. Harris : Settlers and Convicts^ pp. 295-6.)

The fact is, the upper classes of New South Wales settlers have so
long been used to deal with the poor wretched convicts, and to
tell them they have no rights, and to taunt and mock them if they
talk about seekSig redress for any ill treatment, that the habit and
the feeling at the bottom of it have become rooted in their very
nature^ and they would wish to treat free people in the same way,
“Is not the free labourer here for our convenience — as a substitute
for convicts who can no longer be found in sufficient numbers
to supply us ? What more profit is one to us than the other ? Why
should we treat one better than the other?” Such is positively
the feeling. . . . supercilious intolerance pervades the whole feeling
with which the upper class in New South Wales generally regard
the lower, and is the cause of such grievous injuries to the free
labourer as often entirely to counterbalance the advantages which
emigration otherwise offers.

27. Some Generalizations on Workers in Australia by an
Employer. 1843.

(Ev. of J. P. Robinson (a bank director) to the Select Committee
on the Petition from Distressed Mechanics and Labourers, p. 27.
F. and?, of the Legis. Com. of M.S.W. 1843.)

. . . The high rates of wages, which prevailed during the last five
or six years, have spoiled these people, have injured alike master
and man; for the exorbitant wages to which they were accustomed,
were expended in dissipation and other hurtful enjoyments; a
labouring man, in the country, would be as well off at ;^10 a year,
as he would have been with ;^40, to dissipate in town. Further,
the little work done here, by the labouring classes, is ruinous for
their employers — ^it is a libel on the word ^Habourf for I have
scarce seen a man do what I should call a day’s work, since I left
London. It will be recollected also, that the general rate of wages
in Bedfordshire, and Bucks, is only 7s. or 8s. a week, and in Ireland
5s. without food. There is ample employment in this Colony, at
remunerative wages. All we want for prosperity, is a better social
system in the interior, coupled with industry and economy, and
no political tinkering.

28. A Worker Complains of Oppression. 1830-40 c.

(A. Harris : Settlers and Convicts^ p. 1 54.)

If the reader reflects upon what has just been described — the
Act itself, [i.e, the Bushranger Act which, Harris maintains.

413

E*GONOMIG AND SOCIAL GONDITfONS

permitted the police to arrest a free emigrant on suspicion of being
a bushranger] the farm-constable system, the extraordinary
institution of private lock-ups — he will more easily cop^ceive than
I could describe the extensive and galling inconvenience, to which
the labouring class is subjected in this colony.

29. Emancipists and Exclusives. 1850 c.

(Translated from A. S, de Goncourt, Gomtesse Drohojowska:
UAustralie: Esquisses et Tableaux^ pp. 49-50.)

From this time on particularly, a separating wall was raised,
perhaps forever, between these two classes of Europeans ; between
the convict, whose brow bore the mark of infamy, and the merchant,
workman or farm labourer who had arrived as a free man with his
family; between the emancipated prisoner and the soldier who
had been granted the land on which he had with such difficulty
forced the lazy convict to work before his emancipation. In this
country one finds isolation literally perpetuated from generation
to generation, among men of identical origin, language, education,
customs; a system of classes which are continually placed side by
side, brought together, mingled, and nevertheless always quite
distinct and separate. One feels that there is no religion there to
inculcate fraternity, love and altruism, to encourage reconciliation,
sanctify repentance and break down disdainful pride. The convict’s
son, when repulsed by his neighbour, bridles and allows his soul
to be filled with the worst sort of pride — that of taking pride in
the crimes of his forbears. The daughters of convicts cannot be
mentioned without a blush; the less said of them the better. The
descendant of a free colonist or the lowest-ranking non-commissioned
officer, once he has become a landholder, will only mix socially
with his family, if he has any, and a small circle of friends ; beyond
this circle his fellow citizens and other men will be strangers tg him,
barbarians and almost enemies. These two characteristics, chosen
from a thousand others equally authentic, illustrate the mental
attitude of two classes which are still numerous and which predomin-
ated during the first phase of colonization.

30. A Working Class Organization. 1843.

(Ev. of B. Sutherland to Selec Committee on Petition from
Distressed Mechanics and Labourers, pp. 5-6. V and F. of the
Legis, Conn, of KS.W. 1843.)

You are a member of the Mutual Protection Society? I am.
How many members have you in that society? The number

414 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

enrolled on^the books is four hundred and thirty-nine, besides
a considerable number who are paying the entrance money of
Is. by instalments.

What are the chief features of the society — ^what are its objects ?
To endeavour to obtain the amelioration of the condition of the
working classes. ^

By the Colonfal Secretary : When was it formed ? The first meeting
was on the 5th of September last [i.e. 5 September 1843].

Haf/e you any rules formed? Yes.

Is there any other object besides that of improving the condition
of the working classes? That is the primary object; but there are
others, which I consider subordinate, namely, the securing of the
return of fit and proper persons to represent them in the City and
Legishttive Councils; the encouragement of Colonial manufactures,
&c.

Then it is, to a certain extent, a political society? Yes, to a certain
extent.

By the Chairman : The members conceive that the primary objects
of the society would be promoted by securing the return of fit
and proper persons to represent them? Yes.

By the Colonial Secretary: Are there any parties belonging to this
institution whose names appear upon the lists, handed in to the
Committee? Yes, I should say so; there is my own which was put
down by the collector who went round my ward.

By the Chairman: Is there any other contribution besides the Is.
entrance money? Yes, Is. entrance money, and Id. a week con-
tribution; besides which members make such farther subscriptions
as they can afford.

How do you expend the money? The greater part has been
expended in printing five hundred copies of the rules and objects
of the society; in calling public meetings; and preparing the two
petiti«>ns presented to the Legislative Council; in stationery,
and several other items.

By the Attorney General: How often do you meet? The general
meetings are once a week, and the Committee also meet one night
in the week, and have the power of calling special meetings when
necessary.

Is there a Committee of Management ? Yes.

Can you give their names? I have them entered on the minutes,
blit they are not on the rules.

What are the powers of the Committee? They have the entire
and general management of the business of the Association; but
it is, of course, responsible to the general body. The Committee
drew up the petitions, and apportioned the town for the collection

EbONOMIG AND SOCIAL GONDITPONS 415

of signatures; and made the arrangements for obtaining the
information which I have now laid before the Committee.

By the Chairman: Has it been the want of employmmt for the
working classes that has called this society into existenoe? Most
undoubtedly; we have the names of persons among us who would
not have joined but for that cause.

It is for no such purpose as a combination to ra^e the rate of
wages? Not in the most remote degree; there is not one rule or
regulation that has that tendency; besides a great portion of the
members belong to a different sphere of society than mechanics,
and are employers of labor.

■ Will you mention their names? There are six members of the
City Council, — Messrs. Taylor, Brown, Thurlow, Driver, Jenkins,
and Coyle; there is also Mr. Cohen, the silversmith, and a number
of other highly respectable persons.

Do they attend any of the meetings? Yes, they are members
of the Committee; at least one-third of the Committee belong to
that class.

By the Attorney General: From what model have you taken your
rules and regulations? I cannot say that we have taken any
particular model, but many of the members have belonged to
political associations at home, and the rules are very similar to
those of the political unions of 1832.

By the Chairman: The only political object of this institution
was to ameliorate the condition of the working classes ? Exactly so.

By Mr. Cowper : And also to secure a proper return of members
to the Councils ? Which we considered to be one means of anielior-
ating our condition.

[Note : For further information see Leila Thomas : The Development of the
Labour Movement in the Sydney District of New South Wales, 1788-1848 — an
unpublished thesis in the Fisher Library, Sydney. See also J. T. Sutcliffe: A
History of Trade Unionism in Australia, p. 17.]

F. Masters and Servants

31. A Contract between Two Masters and a Servant. 1844.

(Document submitted by Mrs Chisholm in her evidence to the
Committee on Colonization from Ireland, pp. 412-3. Sessional
Papers of the House of Lords 1847, Vol. XXIII.)

No. 460/423. Sydney, 20th June 1844.

Memorandum of Agreement made this Day between Messrs.
D. and F. McGonnel of Moreton Bay of the one Part, and Noah
Toall, a free Immigrant per Ship ‘‘John of London”, 1844, of
the other Part. The Conditions are, that the said Noah Toall

416 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

engages to^ serve the said Messrs. D. and F. McConnell as a
Stockman, and otherwise make himself generally useful, for
the Term ^f Twelve Calendar Months ; and also to obey all his or
his Overseers or authorised Agents lawful and reasonable Commands
during that Period; in consideration of which Services the said
Messrs. D. and F.rMcConnel doth hereby agree to pay the said
Noah Toall Wages at the Rate of Twenty Pounds (;£‘20) per Annum
and to provide him with the following Rations weekly. Wages
to ccgnmence on Arrival at the Station. One Half of the Passage
Money to be paid by the said Noah Toall.

Ten Pounds Beef or Mutton.

Ten Pounds Flour.

One Pound and a Half Sugar.

Three Ounces Tea.

In witness whereof they have mutually affixed their Signatures
to this Document.

Witness, D. & F. McCONNELL,

CAROLINE CHISHOLM, Per ROBERT GRAHAM

Entered. the Agent,

F. NOAH TOALL X his Mark.

32. An Act of the Legislative Council of New South Wales
on Masters and Servants. 1828.

(T. Callaghan: Acts and Ordinances.)

[Note : This was not the first attempt to define by law the relations between
Masters and Servants. The first was a General Order by Governor Hunter in
1797 (see H.R.A. I, 2, p. 69). This announced the principle that a Bench oi
Magistrates could settle disputes, “the English law being very full and clear
on this subject”. From 1797 to 1822 the Governors issued regularly General
Orders defining the rights of Masters over their Servants, and vice versa, for
example, the General Order by Governor Macquarie in 1813 (see Sydney Gazette
of 24 July 1813) and the General Order of 1818 (see H.R.A. IV, 1, pp. 325-6).
However by 1822 there was considerable doubt about the power of the Governor
to legislate by General Order (see Section 7, A, 12 of this volume); and, to meet
this objection, the law on Masters and Servants was given statutory authority
by ss. 41-3 of the Act 4 Geo. IV, c. 96. The Act amending this Act — the Act of
9 Geo. IV, c. 83 — also included sections defining the relations between Masters
and Servants (see ss. 35-6 of that Act). The document which follows was the
first colonial statute to define their relations.]

An Act for the better Regulation of Servants, Labourers,
and Work People. 9 Geo. IV, No. 9. (17th July 1828.)
WHEREAS many of the Acts of the British Parliament, relating
to servants and labourers, are not applicable to the Colony of
New South Wales, and great uncertainties consequently prevail
in the administration of justice between masters and servants in
the said Colony: Be it therefore enacted, by His Excellency the
Governor of New South Wales, with the advice of the Legislative

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITrONS 417

Council, That if any artificer, manufacturer, journeymafi, workman,
labourer, or servant, employed in any manner howsoever, either
as a menial or house servant, or on any farm or estate-? who shall
have been -hired or engaged, by or with any master or© mistress,
or employer or employers, for any time whatsoever, shall, during
any part of the time for which lie or she shall lhave been so hired
or engaged, absent himself or herself from the service of the person
or persons to whom he or she shall be so engaged as aforesaid,
during the customary time of serving or working at the trade,
occupation, or employment for which he or she shall have been
so hired or engaged, or shall refuse or neglect to work in the
trade, calling, or employment, for which he or she shall have been
so hired or engaged, in a diligent and careful manner, after having
been thereunto required by his or her master, mistress, employer
or employers; or shall return his or her work, or desert or quit
the same before it shall have been completely finished, without
the consent of the person or persons by whom he or she shall have
been so employed, it shall be lawful for any one or more Justice
or Justices of the Peace, to cause every person who shall be com-
plained of as so offending, to be brought before him or them, or
before some other Justice or Justices of the Peace; and the Justice
or Justices before whom any person complained of as aforesaid
shall be so brought, shall hear and determine the matter of every
such complaint, and if no reasonable and sufficient cause be shewn
to the contrary, such Justice or Justices shall commit every person
convicted of so offending as aforesaid, to the common gaol, there
to remain, without bail or mainprize, for any time not exceeding
six calendar months, or, at the discretion of such Justice or Justices,
to some house of correction, there to remain, and to be kept to
hard labour, for any time not exceeding three calendar months;
and e^ery person convicted of so offending as aforesaid, shall
moreover forfeit all or such part of his of her wages, or pay, which
may or shall be due or owing to him or her, from and by the? party
complaining, at the time of such conviction, as in the judgment
and discretion of such Justice or Justices shall appear just and
reasonable.

III. And be it further enacted. That, if any such artificer, laborer, or
servant, employed in any manner howsoever, either as a menial or
house servant, or on any farm or estate, shall wilfully or negligently
spoil or destroy any goods, wares, work, or materials for work,
committed to his or her care or charge, or wherewith he or she
shall be entrusted, by his or her master or mistress, or employer,
or shall negligently injure or lose any property entrusted to his
care, every such offender, and his or her accomplice or accom-

418 SELECT ®OCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN nfsTORY

plices^ bein|; thereof lawfully convicted before any one or more
Just'ce or Justices of the Peace, shall forfeit and pay double the
value of si|ph goods, wares, work, or materials for work, so ,spoiled
or destrayed, or other property injured or lost as aforesaid, to
the owner or owners thereof, respectively; and shall be committed
to gaol, by such Justice or Justices, until the same be paid; or,
in failure of i^ayment, for any period, not less than one month
nor more than six months, at the discretion of such Justice or
Justicips.

IV. And be it further enacted. That in case any master or mistress,
or other employer, shall ill-use any such artificer, laborer, or servant
employed in any manner howsoever, either as a menial or house
servant, or on any farm or estate, it shall and may be lawful for
any one or more Justice or Justices of the Peace, upon complaint
being made to him or them thereof, on oath, to issue a summons
to compel the appearance before him or them, or before any other
Justice or Justices of the Peace, of such master or mistress, or other
employer, and, upon his or her appearance, or upon proof of such
master, mistress, or other employer, having been duly summoned,
then, upon the day named in such summons, for the appearance
of such master, mistress, or employer, and whether he or she
shall be present or not, to proceed to hear the proof of such ill-usage,
and such Justice or Justices may, upon due proof thereof, order
and award such amends to be made to the party aggrieved, as
he or they shall think fair and reasonable; and such award shall
be carried into effect by distress and sale of the goods and effects
of such master, mistress, or employer as aforesaid: Provided, that
in no case such amends shall exceed the amount of six months
wages of such artificer, laborer, or servant, employed in any manner
howsoever, either as a menial or house servant, or on any farm
or estate, and such Justice or Justices may also order and direct
that t^e term or service or employment for which such artificer,
laborer, or servant, employed in any manner howsoever, either
as a menial or house servant, or on any farm or estate, shall have
contracted to serve, shall, from thenceforth cease, determine, and
be at an end.

V. (Warrants or orders to be drawn in the form set forth in the
schedule) .

VI. (Persons convicted may appeal to the next Court of Quarter
Sessions).

[Note:^ This Act was amended by the Acts 4 Viet,, No. 23 of 20 October
1840, entitled “An Act to ensure the fulfilment of engagements, and to provide
for the adjustment of disputes between Masters and Servants in New South
Wales and its dependencies”, and 9 Viet., No. 27 of 12 November 1845, entitled

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 419

“An Act to amend and consolidate the laws between Masters ai^ci Servants in
New South Wales.” The effects of these amendments were:

1. To bring other types of workers under the jurisdiction of the Courts.

2. To make the punishments less severe.

3. To give the werkers more protection against malpractices by the jnasters.
The following Acts were passed by the Legislative Council of Van Diemen’s

Land : .

1. Act 4 Viet., No. 12 of 5 September 1840, entitled '^An Act to consolidate

the Laws relating to Apprentices and Servants”. ^

2. Act 16 Viet., No. 23 of 20 October 1852, entitled “An Act to repeal the
Act of Council of this Island intituled an Act to consolidate the Laws relating
to Apprentices and Servants and to substitute other Provision in lieu thereof”.

The following Act and Ordinances were passed by the Legislative Council
of South Australia :

1. Act 5 Viet., No. 10 of 15 November 1841, entitled “An Act for the summary
determination of disputes between Masters and Servants”.

2. Ordinance enacted by the Governor of South Australia, with the advice
and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, to amend the Laws relating to
Masters and Servants (10 Viet., No, 9 of 23 July 1847).

3. Ordinance enacted by the Governor of South Australia, with the advice
and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, to amend Ordinance No. 9 of
1847 which amended the Laws relating to Masters and Servants (12 Viet., No. 5
of 1 August 1849).

The following Act (4 Viet., No. 2 of 1840) was passed by the Legislative Council
of Western Australia: “An Act to extend the jurisdiction of Magistrates in cases
of complaint between Masters and Servants”.]

33. A Press Report of Criminal Trials. 1832.

((z) Sydney Herald^ 9 January 1832.)

[Note: Although these cases only affect assigned servants, they throw light
on the attitude of masters to servants.]

POLICE INCIDENTS

TUESDAY, Jan. 3. John Garrit, assigned to a settler at Brisbane
Water, was charged with insolence; but it appearing that the
district constable in that neighbourhood had taken upon himself
the liberty of confining him for several days upon bread and water,
the Bench dismissed the case.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4. William McLoughlin was charged Sy his
master with excessive insolence. On being desired to make a

Welch rabbit, he exclaimed, ‘‘You’re a d d pretty fellow,

an’t you? I’ll see you genteely d d first;” for which he was

ordered to receive fifty lashes.

An assigned servant to Mr. Prout, who had
been entrusted to bring six cwt. of pota’oes to Sydney, but
thought proper to appropriate half of them to his own use, was
sent six months to an iron gang.

Mary Palmer, guilty of telling lies, to the
injury of her mistress’s good name, was sent to the factory for three
months.

420 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

{{ii) Sydney 'Herald, 23 January 1832.)

Catherine Anderson, assigned to a Mrs. Gaynor, was then
charged 'v^dth patroling the streets at all hours of the night; but
it appearing that her mistress kept her for that purpose, she was
returned to Government, and Mrs. Gaynor was directed to be
debarred the indulgence of an assigned servant in future.

James Pyn©, for inhaling the sea breeze on the South-head
road for the last nine weeks, instead of the smoke in his master’s
kitchen, was sentenced to receive 75 lashes — 50 on that day, and
25 on the following Tuesday. . . .

Charles White was charged by his master with refusing to put
a coating of Warren’s rich Japan on his “understandings” — with
striking his master twice on the temples — and with threatening,
should his master get him punished for these acts of disobedience
and assault, that he would shorten his days. The Bench ordered
him to receive 50 lashes.

34. The Need to Improve the Masters’ and Servants’ Act. 1835.

((f) Ev. of R. Scott (a squatter) to Committee on Immigration,
p. 56. V, and P, of the Legis. Com, of N.S,W, 1835.)

I would beg to suggest, that the present law between master and
servant, has been found in practice very dificient, and free men
cannot be made to fulfil their engagements. Were this law made
efficient and adapted to the condition of the Colony, I think private
individuals would be induced to import labor on their own account,
and they might be further induced by being allowed a fixed price
for each individual brought out and paid by remission in the
purchase of land.

{{ii) Ev. of Captain Philip Parker King, ex-Royal Navy, to Com-
mittee on Immigration, p. 72. V, and P, of the Legis, Com. of JV.S, W,
1835.)

To prevent, as much as possible, the improper conduct of these
servafits upon their hiring on their arrival, the Legislature would
of course see the necessity of adopting very strict regulations,
empowering Magistrates to interpose their authority, and to
punish with severity any well-founded complaint of misconduct.
The present Act is insufficient to protect the master against the
servant.

35. Other Cases under the Masters’ and Servants’ Act. 1843.

(Ev. of H. Bremer (a blacksmith) to Select Committee on Petition
from Distressed Mechanics and Labourers, pp. 21-2. V, and P,
of the Legis, Com, of N,S,W. 1843.)

About three weeks after I arrived, my employer with whom I
had entered into an engagement for twelve months, left his shop.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 421

and parted with the whole concern to another persoiSj who said
he did not want me; in consequence of this I had my employer
before the Court; Mr. Cook decided in my favour, andri had my
expenses and waiges; I then returned to Sydney, and have-not had
a day’s work since. ... I can speak to four or five, who have worked
for ten or twelve months, and their feelings ha^e been excited by
the behaviour of their masters, who have wanted the^h to do some-
thing which they refused; they have then been taken before the
magistrates, their wages have been forfeited, and four have been
sent to gaol; one man was released by Captain Innes.

By the Attorney General: What do you mean by the behaviour
of the masters ? They provoked their men.

In what way? There is one case I can verify — a shepherd was
stationed fifteen miles from the head station, and after he had made
his hut comfortable, he was ordered to go eight or nine miles off,
and after he had been there a little while, he was ordered to go as
a hut-keeper to a place where the aborigines were very troublesome,
and where he required a fowling piece for protection; he refused
to go without fire arms and ammunition, which he was required
to find himself; his master said ‘'you will not go then”; and this
was called a neglect of duty.

36. A Case under the Masters’ and Servants’ Act. 1843.

(Ev. of E. Mullens (a painter) to Select Committee on Petition from
Distressed Mechanics and Labourers, p. 15. V. and P. of the Legis,
Com. of N.S.W. 1843.)

He had a bad employer, who would not pay his wages ; he ran
out of shoes, and could not get money to purchase them ; he started
off in the night, intending to report his case to magistrate, and lost
himself in the bush about a quarter of a mile from the station;
the next morning he was reported as absent — ^was summoned
before the magistrate — mulcted of his wages, and sent ott the
chain to Sydney, where he was kept for six weeks on the mill.

[Note: For reports of cases under both the early orders of the Governors,
and the statutes, see Sydney Bench Book, 1815-22; Cawdor Bench Book; Bathurst
Bench Record of Cases, 1829-41; Liverpool Record Book, 1833-53: ail these
MSS. are in the Mitchell Library. There are many other useful manuscripts
of Record Books in the Mitchell Library.]

37. The Interpretation -f the Acts by the Courts. 1828-40.

(Iht Australian^ 1 October 1840.)

Is it quite certain that the local magistracy will deal equal
justice between the parties? Is it upon the common principles
which actuate human nature even altogether probable? We know
not. We own it to be our opinion that the servant, whether he be

422 SELECT DOCUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

complainau" or accused, will NOT, in cases such as the present,
meet with scrupulous or impartial justice. Far be it from us to
impute tQk the magistracy in country districts any intentional
desire ta pervert the law. But we maintain that -their, minds will
be inevitably, though imperceptibly, biased in favour of one class
of applicants rather than of the other. The general turn of their
minds, the pressure of their private interests, the cardinal necessity,
as it seems to them, of preserving discipline, is not, in instances
such^s will occur under this Act, salutary to the undisturbed and
impartial discharge of justice. And this reflection is rendered
more weighty and is the more calculated to disquiet the mind,
when we take it in conjunction with the indefinite discretionary
powers entrusted by the Act, both to themselves and to the settler
complaining. We assert, that upon this head, a well-grounded
fear may be entertained, and we should be wanting to an upright
discharge of our duty were we not timely to proclaim this opinion.

G. Town Life

38. Life in Sydney. 1825 c.

(P. Cunningham: Two Tears in Vol. I, pp. 43-5.)

Near the harbour, where ground is very valuable, the houses
are usually contiguous, like those of the towns in England; but,
generally speaking, the better sort of houses in Sydney are built
in the detached cottage style, — of white freestone, or of brick
plastered and whitewashed, one or two stories high, with verandas
in front, and enclosed by a neat wooden paling, lined occasionally
with trim-pruned geranium hedges; they have besides usually a
commodious garden backwards, decked out with flowers, and teem-
ing with culinary delicacies. Into the enclosure immediately
around the house, the dogs are commonly turned at night, to
ward off rogues, — and uncompromising, vigilant watchmen they
certaMy are, paying little of that respect to genteel exterior which
their better-bred brethren in England are so apt to demonstrate.
The streets are wide and unpaved, but their durable composition,
and the general dryness of our climate, render paving unnecessary;
while an elegant set of lamps placed diagonally at fifty yards’
distance, by reason of the whiteness of our houses and clearness
of our sky, effect an illumination equalling some of the best-lighted
London streets. Although all you see are English faces, and you
hear no other language but English spoken, yet you soon become
aware you are in a country very different from England, by the
number of parrots and other birds of strange note and plumage
which you observe hanging at so many doors, and of which you
will soon see cages full exposed for sale as you proceed. The govern-

423

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITKDNS

ment gangs of convicts, also, marching backwards a#id forwards
from their work in single military file, and the solitary ones straggling
here and there, with their white woollen Paramatta Jfocks and
trowsers, or gray or yellow jackets with duck overalls, (tne^ different
styles -of dress denoting the oldness or newness of their arrival),
all daubed over with broad arrows. P.B’s, d.B’s, and various
numerals in black, white, and red; with perhaps# the jail-gang
straddling sulkily by in their jingling leg-chains, — tell a tale too
plain to be misunderstood. At the corners of streets, and Ijefore
many of the doors, fruit-stalls are to be seen, teeming, in their
proper seasons, with oranges, lemons, limes, figs, grapes, peaches,
nectarines, apricots, plums, apples, pears &c., at very moderate
prices.

39. Life in Hobart. 1850 c.

(R. E. Malone: Three Tears' Cruise in the Australasian Colonies, loc. cit.)

Hobarton, the capital . . . has excellent quays, made by convict
labour ; a patent slip for merchant vessels ; and everything connected
with the shipping is admirably managed, owing to the discipline
kept over the men employed, almost all of whom are, for very
good reasons, obliged to mind their p’s and q’s ; and seamen absent
from their ships are soon picked up by the police.

The town is not fortified in any one way and, ... in March 1 85 1
. . . had 4,052 houses, 2,932 of which were stone or brick.

It is well built, and the streets are very good and regular. It is
well supplied with cabs and stage-coaches for the interior, which,
on starting and arriving, give an old-English look to the place;
the mail-coachmen and guards being dressed in red, as in England,
and the turn-outs very good.

The chief buildings are, first, a large, handsome, well-built
edifice, fronting the landing-place, which is now used, the middle
part as the House of Assembly, the wings as the port and Custom
Houses; St. George’s Church, with a fine steeple towering o^r the
houses, and seen from a great distance; the new market-place,
a splendid establishment, strongly built of stone, and very ornamen-
tal to the town, in Macquarie Street, nearly opposite the wretched-
looking, low, wooden Government House. Above the House of
A^^sembly in Macquarie Street, is St. Mary’s Hospital, at which
place, and there only baths can be got. . , . The two theatres are both
most disreputable, and merely houses licensed for theatrical
purposes. Three inns only can be frequented by gentlemen: the
Freemasons, the Ship, and the Union Club; the former the quietest,
and the latter the sporting and racing hotel. At this place I have
seen a strange mixture (naval and military officers, or members
of the Legislative Council, playing skittles &c.); here the race

424 SELECT t>OGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

entries &c. £re made. There are innumerable grog-shops, frequen'ed
by the lowest of the low.

The Ge^vernment Demesne is on the banks of the Derwent,
above th<e town, and is of very large extent, and ap most delightful
place of recreation for the Tasmanians. There are plants, shrubs,
and trees of all ki^ds, with the most beautiful flowers, and even
fruit; and th^ greater part of the year the band of the regiment
quartered at Hobarton played here once a week; when the gardens
were^ attended by all the fashionables of the city, with perhaps
a greater display of beauty on the part of the fair Tasmanians
than most cities of its size could show. The Demesne itself is the
scene of all kinds of open-air amusements, cricketing, horse-riding
&c., and there is a delightful carriage-drive round it; below it
was the Anson, an old 74, afterwards a female convict depot,
but since broken up and burnt as firewood, partly by the Tantome’
(p. 38).

The chief feature of the colony is, of course, the mixture of
convictism in every thing: the large number of actual prisoners
in gangs and irons; the buildings on all sides everywhere in the
colony, which on inquiry prove to be connected with the subject;
churches and barracks for prisoners; gaols, hospitals, and peni-
tentiaries; the columns of the newspaper; rewards for absconders
and apprehension of criminals pasted to the walls; guards of
soldiers, all impress the mind unpleasantly with the knowledge
of the fact: and yet, without much apparent coercion, the country
is as quiet as any part of England, and Hobarton one of the most
orderly of towns (p. 28).

40 Melbourne in 1845 and 1856 — Contrast.

(R. Therry: Reminiscences of Thirty Tears' Residence in New South
WaleSy and Victoria^ pp. 355-7.)

A Siore striking contrast could not be well furnished than the
appearance Melbourne presented in the year 1845, when I was
there as Resident Judge, and afterwards when I visited it in 1856.
If one of those imps we read of in the “Arabian Nights’ Entertain-
ments,” who are conversant, as we are assured, Wxth things past,
present, and to come, could have revealed to the possessor of
five thousand pounds in the former year the wealth secreted in
the bowels of the earth at Mount Ballarat and Bendigo, he would
have disclosed to the fortunate owner that he could have purchased
property in 1845 which, on a moderate calculation, he might have
resold for two hundred thousand pounds in 1856. Nor was the
contrast confined to property in land. Cattle, sheep, and personal
property of every description rose correspondingly in price.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL GONDITfONS ^ 425

In 1845 Bourke-street contained but a few scattered cottages,
and sheep were grazed on the thick grass then growing in the street.
It was. only known to be a street in that year by a^signboard
indicating -^Thh is Bourke-street.'^'^ In 1856 this same Bomrke-street
was as crowded with fine buildings and as thronged and alive
with the hurrying to and fro of busy people ^ Cheapside at the
present day. Again, in 1 845 there was not a cab-stand4n Melbourne,
and but two carriages to be had on hire at 15s. a day. In 1856 on
two cab-stands I counted fifty carriages, from neither of which
would any driver move under ;^1. I offered lOs. to more than one
of this then prosperous tribe for a drive of ten minutes. The answer
was, ‘‘We never move from our stand under a pound.” If one
were invited to dinner a few miles out of town — for instance, to
Toorak House, the Governor’s residence, four miles from
Melbourne — the carriage-fare there and thence home again
was five guineas. So extensively had the town been enlarged, that
in 1845, from my residence on the Eastern Hill it was a pleasant
walk through green paddocks to the Court-house ; ten years after-
wards, the whole way from that house to the Court-house was
filled up with streets. Two branches of Sydney banks supplied the
district in 1845 with banking accommodation that only occupied
them with business a few hours each day. In 1856 eight banks
could scarcely meet the pecuniary exigencies of the community.
In the principal street, Collins-street, there was but one jeweller
in 1845, who displayed a scanty supply of secondhand watches
and pinchbeck brooches in a shop similar to those in which pawn-
brokers display their articles of used-up jewellery in the bye-streets
off the Strand. In 1856 might be seen in the same street jewellers’
shops as numerous and brilliant as those that glitter in Regent-
street. The harbour of Hobson’s Bay on the morning on which
I left it for Sydney in 1846 contained two large ships, three brigs,
and a few small colonial craft. In 1 856 the same harbour was filled
with about two hundred large London and Liverpool A 1 •ships,
and countless other vessels from America, New Zealand, and
various other foreign parts. Public amusements partook too of the
change. Instead of a small third-rate theatre open twice a week
in 1845, there was a grand Opera-house and a Queen’s Theatre
vying with the London patent theatres in size and decorative
embellishment. In 1845 the revenue of the district of Port Phillip
was p(^73,000; in 1857, the revenue of Victoria was ;^3, 175,888!

Nor were religion and education neglected in this sudden burst
of material prosperity. In 1856 an university, handsomely endowed
by legislative liberality, arose; and a numerous clergy of the
various denominations (the two principal, Church of England
and Roman Catholic, presided over by bishops of their respective

426 sel:^ct i5oguments in Australian history

creeds) officiated. In 1845 there was little more than one clergyman
of each religious denomination. The Rev. Mr. Thomson, a diligent
and devot#»5 minister, officiated in the Church of England; and
Dr. Geohagen, the present much-esteemed Roman Catholic Bishop
of Adelaide, and founder of the Roman Catholic mission to
Victoria, was thef only clergyman of that denomination in
Melbourne. Ifi short, in size, in wealth, in numbers, in varied
social enjoyments, the humble town I had quitted in 1845 had
been ftransformed in 1 856 into a splendid city, and presented such
a transition from poverty to splendour as no city in the ancient
or modern world had heretofore exhibited in a corresponding period.

41. A Description of Adelaide. 1837.

(J. Backhouse: A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies, p. 512.)

. . . Adelaide is laid out on both sides of the Torrens; it has an
open space of parkland, reserved in the midst, and is divided into
1,040 acres, exclusive of streets, which cross at right-angles, so as
o give to every acre, one side of street-frontage, and to about
half of them, two sides. The acres sold originally, at from ;^3 to
about £\2 each, and they are now bringing from ^40 to ;^65 each!
The population already amounts to about 1,200, but being scattered
over so large an area, they make little show. Some of the immi-
grants are erecting comfortable dwellings of wood, stone, or terra-
pisa, but many are living in rush huts, which are exceedingly
obnoxious to fire. The day was excessively hot, and every thing
was consequently very dry. One of the huts caught fire, and was
destroyed in a few minutes So many persons settling together
in an open, fertile country, and having generally brought good
supplies with them, from England, and a few who had capital,
having imported cattle from Tasmania, they have suffered but
a small share of the privations to which the early emigrants to
N.S. iVales and V.D.’s Land were subjected. Provisions are
however high; fresh meat Is. per pound, bread 20d. the four-pound
loaf; but if made at home, it does not cost half that sum. Mechanics
are obtaining 10s. a day, wages, in cash, or notes of the Bank of
Australia, which issues 2s. 5s. and 10s. as well as larger notes,
and receives small deposits at interest,

42. A Description of Fremantle and Perth. 1837.

(J, Backhouse: A Narr tive of a Visit to the Australian Colonies, loc. cit.)

The town of Freemantle is situated behind a little promontory
of limestone, at the mouth of an estuary, called Melville Water,
into the head o ’ which, near Perth, the Swan and Canning Rivers
flow. These rivers form an inland navigation, to a considerable

427

economic and social condittons

distance, but the opening of Melville Water into thie sea, is so
choked with rocks, that it is only passable for boats, in fine weather.
Vessels, discharge their cargoes at a jetty, in a small t^y on the
south of the to\vn. A tunnel is formed through the promontory,
to a place where boats can land with more security, in stormy
weather. The houses of Freemantle are of Iknestone. Many of
them have been left unfin* shed, in consequence the seat of
Government having been removed to Perth; these, as well as
others, that are occupied, are going to decay. Freemantle resembles
some of the little coast-villages on the limestone of the county
of Durham, but it is even whiter than they, and it is greatly
inconvenienced by the drifting of sand. Fresh water is obtained
in shallow wells, in the limestone. The population is about 200. . . .

At Perth, we became lodgers, in the homely dwelling of the
widow of a Colonial Surgeon; in whose house, several other persons
were also inmates. The bed-rooms were without plaster on the
walls, or gla. in the windows, and fleas wei’e veiy numerous.
Circumstances like these are not uncommon in newly-settled
countries in warm climates. But we had learned to put up with
inconveniences of this kind, and gratefully acknowledged the
endeavours of our landlady, to do her best to accommodate her
guests.

The town of Perth consists of several streets, in most of which
there are but few houses. Some of these, as well as the fences about
the gardens, appear to be going to decay. The streets are of sand,
mixed with charcoal, from the repeated burning of the scrub,
which formerly covered the ground, on which the town stands.
The principal street has a raised causeway, slightly paved, by
which the toil of wading through the grimy sand may be avoided.
Many beautiful, native shrubs grow in the borders of the gardens,
most of which are in a neglected state (pp. 529-31).

Much of the country near Freemantle, is of limestone, covered
with sand; it is unproductive of herbage, adapted for flocks, and
unlikely, in a state of nature, to yield anything for the support
of a new colony. With a little culture, it is said, however, to yield
good vegetables. Potatoes are excellent, and in some situations,
produce three crops in a year. Vines and figs thrive, even in the
town, where the limestone rock, is covered with little but fragments
and sand. Industry is not great in the Colony, and much of the
land will yield nothing without it (p. 533).

The Colony is ’ so poor, as to be unable to import sheep in
sufficient quantity, to stock its lands, so that the holders of grants
of from 5,000 to 100,000 acres, have little stock of any kind upon
them. Such grants are consequently, of so little value, as to occasion

land to be ^pld, as low as from Is. 6d. to 2s. 6d. per acre! Had the
money expended in spirits, since the foundation of the Colony,
been occupied in the importation of sheep, it is not improbable
that land might now have been ten times its precent value; and
had no grants originally exceeded 5,000 acres, many more persons
would have had tl^e means of maintaining flocks, of about 1,000
sheep each. Tjie wealth of the Colony would probably have been
thus increased, so as to have rendered grants of this size, by this
time, ^ as valuable as those of 50,000 acres each, now are. Spirit
drinking, and avarice in obtaining grants of large extent, have
paralysed the country, which, beyond a doubt, is naturally very
inferior to what was originally represented. The exports of oil
and wool, are yet very inconsiderable, perhaps, not amounting
to £4,000 in any one year, and almost the only other sources of
income to the Colony, are, the payments of Government salaries,
the supply of provision to the few ships that put in here, and a
little arising from private property. The persons, who have improved
their circumstances by emigration to this country, are labourers,
store-keepers, and a few others, into whose hands much of the
capital that was originally in the possession of other Colonists,
has passed; but by this transition, the capital of the Colony is
not increased. Its population is said to be now, only about 2,000, or
one third of what it was, three years after the Colony was first
settled. Death, frequently the result of drinking, and emigration
to Australia and Tasmania, have been the chief causes of this
reduction (pp. 536-7).

[Note: 1. For a description of Brisbane and district in 1845 see J, D. Lang:
Cooksland in J\forth~Eastern Australia, pp. 101-10.

2. For the strength of inter-colonial jealousy see the press. For a good example
see the Port Phillip Patriot of 20 March 1839.]

H. Leisure

43, A«Hotel in. Sydney. 1830 c.

(A. Harris: Settlers and Convicts^ pp. 12-13.)

The few women were all sober and quiet, but many of the men
were either quite intoxicated or much elevated by liquor. The chief
conversation consisted of vaunts of the goodness of their bullocks,
the productiveness of their farms, or the quantity of work they
could perform. Almost everybody was drinking rum in drams,
or very slightly qualified with water; nor were they niggard of it,
for we had several invitations from those around us to drink.
I could not however, even at this early period of my acquaintance
with this class of people, help observing one remarkable peculiarity
common to them all — there was no offensive intrusiveness about
their civility; every man seemed to consider himself just on a

429

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

level with all the rest, and so quite content either to^be sociable
or not, as the circumstance of the moment indicated as most proper.
The whole company was divided into minor groups^ of twos,
three, and fours* and the dudeen (a pipe with stem reduced^to three,
two, one, or half an inch) was in everybody’s mouth. I think there
was not an individual in the room, but one fesuale, who did not
smoke more or less, during the brief time we sat? there. Their
dresses were of all sorts : the blue jacket and trousers of the English
lagger, the short blue cotton smock-frock and trousers, the ^hort
woolen frock and trousers, fustian jacket and trousers, and so forth,
beyond my utmost power of recollection. Some wore neck-hand-
kerchiefs; some none. Some wore straw hats, some beavers, some
caps of untanned kangaroo-skin. And not a shin in the room that
displayed itself to my eyes had on either stocking or sock. Of course
I speak here only of the very lowest class.

44* New South Wales Society in the 1850s.

(R. Therry: Reminiscences of Thirty Tears^ Residence in New South
Wales and Victoria^ loc. cit.)

There are now in Sydney, as well as in Melbourne and other
chief towns of Australia, all the materials of what may be termed
good middle-class society that one can find in the principal towns
of England, out of London.

Retired officers of the army and navy, with their families — a
class that has greatly increased within the last few years — ^form the
principal class of settlers in the country. In Sydney, amongst the
civil officers of Government, are frequently found men of ability
and superior intelligence. The majority of merchants have had
the advantage of previous mercantile experience in the United
Kingdom; whilst the members of the bar (most of whom are
members of the English or Irish bar), as well as of the medical
and clerical professions, are quite on a par with their brethren of
the same professions in the mother country.

At the balls and parties of Government House, and at private
reunions, music and dancing and agreeable conversation supply
the usual pleasant entertainment of similar evening associations
at home. The amusements of the citizens are further varied and
enlivened by regattas, boat-races, and the ‘‘Homebush races,”
where horses of the best blood of English racers enter into emulative
competition for liberal prizes, the Legislative Assembly voting
an annual sum of 100 guineas for the Queen’s plate. Cricket
amongst the men is decidedly the favourite game of all classes of
colonists, from youth upwards. A match is annually played between
the best cricketers of Victoria and New South Wales, meeting in
alternate years at Sydney and at Melbourne. Last year colonial

430 SELECT #DOCUMENT.S IN AUSTRALIAN ifiSTORY »

cricketers vheld their own” as the phrase is, with the chosen
Eleven of England, whom the colonists at their own expense
invited t(^ contest the palm of victory. This match excited as much
interest,^ and brought together nearly as numerous an assemblage
of lookers-on, as the Derby-day at Epsom.

Added to these cnaterials of good and agreeable society we have
a numerous «iagistracy, composed of the principal residents, with
their families, in the interior, who come to Sydney in the season,
in like manner as country gentleinen in England pay periodical
visits to the capital. Naval officers, in French as well as English
ships-of-war, and educated travellers, now frequently visit the
Colony, from England and India. Sydney, besides, boasts of
possessing two good theatres, where opera is in high favour, and
Tragedy and Comedy suitably represented. . . ,

Besides the two large theatres constantly open, there are phil-
harmonic societies, a public library, a philosophical society,
and a mechanics’ institute, where scientific and literary lectures,
as at similar institutions in England, are periodically given. In the
new University a double first-class man (Dr. Wooley) of Oxford
University; a senior wrangler of his year at Cambridge (Mr. Pell);
together with an accomplished scholar of the Edinburgh University
(Dr. Smith), occupy the professorial chairs in the respective depart-
ments of Classics, Mathematics, and Natural Philosophy.

Two morning principal papers, ^‘The Sydney Herald” and
“Empire”, both conducted with superior talent, and several
weekly papers, supply the usual political and literary news. Churches
— some of superior architectural design — of the various religious
denominations are well attended on Sunday. A Legislative Assembly
and Legislative Council, in Sydney and Melbourne, sit for many
months in the year, occupying (especially in Melbourne) spacious
halls as brilliant and almost as commodious as the Houses of the
English Parliament. Courts of justice are established, where the
forms of Westminster are as closely observed as the circumstances
of the Colony will admit; and there is as well regulated a police
as in London. A few years ago, a large body of trained policemen
were brought from Birmingham and Manchester to Sydney.
There are besides in Sydney three well-established clubs, five or
six banks in full business, insurance offices, and some superior
hotels. These then are the principal ingredients from which persons
may judge of the social advantages which New South Wales presents
as inducements to emigrants who may be disposed to settle there
(pp. 60-3).

In the arts which polish life, and the accomplishments which
adorn it, the towns and cities of these distant colonies for a consid-

431

E?:ONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITfONS

erable time must of course rank secondary to those o4' the parent
country. Of that class which constitute the high aristocratic
circle of society in England there is as yet no rep resen t^rtive circle
in these colonies; but the class that comes next to it, and that
consists of the gentry of England, and from it downwards through
the several subordinate grades of life, society creditably repres-
ented in New South Wales, and is quite on a par with 'Corresponding
classes in England.

The society of Sydney of late years has received a val¥.able
accession to its improvement by the arrival of young ladies
whom the recently acquired wealth of their parents supplied with
the means of providing for their daughters a first-rate English
education. The well-known seminaries of London, Paris, and
Brighton have sent forth pupils qualified to adorn the best circles
of society in any country. And it is not a bold assertion to predict
that soon the city of Sydney, and other cities of Australia, through
the means of similar educational institutions to those in England,
now established in the Colony, will have as much cause to be
proud of the models of female accomplishments they can exhibit
as any of the old and long-settled chief cities of Europe.

In the towns of Australia, in the interior of the country, there is
the same society, though of course on a reduced scale in comparison
with the capital cities. At races and public bails in the circuit
towns, at the time of the assizes, like agreeable reunions and other
festive entertainments take place as in England. They lack of
course the advantages and influence incident to the society at
the seat of Government; but the general features of ‘‘town and
country” society are identical.

But how, it may be asked, do people, especially ladies, fare in
the bush of Australia? As to married ladies, they are amply
occupied in superintending their household concerns ; their daugh-
ters in assisting them; the sons engaged in educational or farm
pursuits. It is however, a matter of regret that boys are tak^n at
too early an age from their educational training to assist in the
sheep and cattle stations in the bush.

The distance at which neighbours reside from one another no
doubt does not much admit of those visits paid in cities, where
much time is spent in rounds of fashionable calls; but friends
frequently visit and pass a few days at a time together, much in
the same way as such visits are paid in England. . . .

Titles of honour have been freely dispensed amongst the colonists,
but not always with uniform due discrimination of merit, and
recognition of just claims. We have but one baronet, Sir Charles
Nicholson, LL.D., who has deservedly earned his shield by dis-
tinguished public service. A few knighthoods have of late years

432 SEL|GT BOGUMENTa IN AUSTRALIAN HiSTORY

been confer|?ed; but a coronet has not yet circled the brow of an
Australian colonist. The various observances of precedence in
New Soutj^ Wales, as in most colonial societies, are attended to
with gre^t, sometimes with ludicrous precision (pp.'^64-6).

45. A Rum Shant^^. 1840 c.

(A. Harris: SBtlers and Convicts^ pp. 235-6.)

Eighth day. — Goulburn Plains. We stopped to-night at one
of tht grog houses. I do not recollect whether or not the proprietor
had a licence at this time: several of the police, however, were
assisting in the spree that was going on. A party of free men had
come there on their way down the country after taking pretty large
sums at the sheep-shearing with the full intention (as free men
under such circumstances always have) of having ‘‘only one half-
pint” of rum and then going on. Meantime (as ever) that one led
to a second; the second to a third; the third to a fourth, and so
on till the count was lost in the unfathomable obscurities of a
publican’s conscience. They were drinking, singing, smoking,
dancing, swearing, yelling, fighting; in short, to use the expressive
simile of the class, after “earning their money like horses they were
spending it like asses.” One fellow had hardly trowsers enough to
retain a legal right to walk about; and he spent there a seventeen
pounds check in two days and a half without purchasing anything.
As fast as one batch of the police got thoroughly soaked at the
expense of these foolish fellows and went out, another batch
walked in.

46. The Bush Hut. 1840 c.

(A. Harris: Settlers and Convicts^ pp. 43-8.)

A few more steps and turning the corner of this building we stood
at the door of the settler’s hut, where we were to stop for the night.
It wall one of those huts which must be ranked among the remarkable
objects of Australian life. Situated on some main track and alone
in the midst of the wilderness, one of these little “cribs”
necessarily becomes the nightly rendez-vous of numbers of travellers.
If the traveller have no food with him, a share of what there is is
always freely offered him; whether any remuneration is given,
depends entirely upon the circumstances and disposition of the
parties. If it be_ a poor man whose hut the wayfaring public has
thus invested with the dignity of an inn, persons in good circum-
stances always make him some present for the accommodation:
if it be a settler in tolerably good circumstances who is thus situated,
remuneration is not thought so imperative; but in either case if
the traveller be a poor man, he is welcomed to whatever there may

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 433

be, and nothing is expected from him in return. The same hospit-
ality is maintained in accommodations for rest. Those who have a
blanket with them contribute it to the general stock ; thos? who have
none have equal share with those who have. These customs lead
very naturally to a great degree of frankness ai^d cordiality among
the persons, most of whom are thus meeting for the^rst time, and
the evenings consequently are for the most part spent in cheerful
conversation and merriment. This species of arrangement extends
throughout the colony; with this difference, that off the main lines
of road, and still more so the farther you advance into the bush,
the usual run of travellers are not only not expected to make any
recompense, but in many places it would be treated as an insult
to offer it. As full two-thirds of the labouring population of the
country are in perpetual migration, the custom is a very proper one.
It probably originated in the first place from the smallness of the
community, almost every one knowing almost every other; and
there is no doubt that the great scarcity of cash in the up country
parts has principally maintained it.

Meantime such in this respect were our night’s quarters. The hut
was well built of slabs split out of fine straight-grained timber,
with hardly a splinter upon them ; and consisted of several compart-
ments, all on the ground floor. The only windows were square
holes in the sides of the hut, and a good log lire was blazing in the
chimney. On stools, and benches, and blocks about the hut sat
a host of wayfarers like ourselves; and several lay at their ease in
corners on their saddlecloths or blankets, whilst saddles and packs
of luggage were heaped up on all sides. Supper was over, and the
short pipes were fuming away in all directions. Our hosts were
two Irishmen, brothers, who had got a little bit of good land
cleared here in the wilderness, and refused nobody a feed and
shelter for the night. They soon put down a couple of quart pots
before the blazing fire, made us some tea, and set before «is the
usual fare, a piece of fine corned beef, and a wheaten cake baked
on the hearth. . . . Merrily sped the couple of hours, betwixt our
arrival and going to bed. One sang a song, another told some tale
of the olden time, when but few white men were in the colony,
another repeated the news he had just heard of the bushrangers,
another described a new tract of land he had just found out for a
cattle-run, and others contented themselves with that endless
subject of dissertation among the colonists, the relative excellences
of their working bullocks. My share was to answer all the questions
(rather all that were answerable) which any and all thought proper
to put to me on the subject of affairs in England; and to pocket
with the best grace I could (for most of these men had been convicts)
the jokes they not very sparingly, but I must say with very good

434 sel|:gt documents in Australian history

humour, cift on me for having come to the colony “to make a
fortune,’’ or for being “a free object” [subject], or for having
“lagged iftyself for fear the King should do it for me.” All these
little matters notwithstanding, the evening passed 'away very
pleasantly; if there were many things in these men which I could
not approve, there was much more that I could not but admire.
There was assort of manly independence of disposition, which
secured truthfulness and sincerity at least among themselves. If the
penalty for the practice of that truthfulness toward the superior
classes had been fixed too high, I felt that allowance ought to be
made for it in estimating their character. Some time before midnight
a general collection of bedding took place, as usual ; the customary
belt of bed was constructed all across the hut in front of the fire;
and as in this instance the hut happened to be about 12 or 15 feet
across, and we mustered nearly a man to each foot of the diameter,
a very pretty row of capless heads and bare feet soon displayed
themselves beyond the opposite ends of the blanketing. On blazed
the merry fire made up for the night; loud snored those who were
so disposed; and louder grumbled ever and anon those who were
not; hither and thither bounded and barked the dog around the
hut, till he thought his master was asleep, and could no longer
take notice of his vigilance; and dreams came and realities went;
and memory had no more added to her task of the day.

I. Australian Behaviour

47, Physique and Character of the Currency Lads. 1820 c.

(Bigge, J. T. : Agriculture and Trade, pp. 81-2.)

The class of inhabitants that have been born in the colony affords
a remarkable exception to the moral and physical character of
their parents: they are generally tall in person, and slender in
their ^limbs, of fair complexion, and small features. They are
capable of undergoing more fatigue, and are less exhausted by
labour than native Europeans; they are active in their habits, but
remarkably awkward in their movements. In their tempers they
are quick and irascible, but not vindictive; and I only repeat the
testimony of persons who have had many opportunities of observing
them, that they neither inherit the vices not the feelings of their
parents. Many of the native youths have evinced a strong disposition
for a sea-faring life, and are excellent sailors; and no doubt can be
entertained that that class of the population will afford abundant
and excellent materials for the supply of any department in the
commercial or naval service. Of the general disposition of the
inhabitants of the colony, I may be permitted to observe that it
differs in one material point from that which may be considered as

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL GONDITibNS

435

common to most other colonial dependencies of Great Britain.
Of the older inhabitants there are very few who do not regard the
colony as their future home. . . .

48. Sydney Conversations. 1825 c.

(P. Cunningham: Two Tears in N.S.W,^ Vol. I, pp. 49-50.)

Agreeable amusements are still much wanted, fo relie\"e the
dull monotony of a town like Sydney, forming the capital of a small
territory, and cut off, in a manner, from all. communication's with
the other parts of the civilised world, excepting by the casual
arrival of a vessel about once a month, bringing broken and garbled
accounts of occurrences probably some six months old. Partly on
account of this tediousness and uncertainty in receiving intelligence,
together with the impossibility of any but a very few ever having
access to the English prints, to keep unbroken the chain of connexion
that links them to home, the affairs of the mother country soon
become objects comparatively of no interest to the great body of the
colonists; while colonial news, colonial politics, and conversational
discussions about the private affairs toad personal good qualities
or failings of individuals and families, engross here the whole
of the public attention. — In all small communities, where
people know too much of each other’s private affairs, and where
consequently idle gossipings and retailings of personal scandal
creep in to fill the blanks occasioned by the flagging of other
subjects, some such innocent recreation as theatricals, balls, and
evening parties, (chiming in now and then to serve for topics of
pleasant discussion, and divert the mind from objects only serving
to engender bad feeling,) are of manifest utility.

49. The AustraHan Character. 1835.

{Van Diemen^ s Land Monthly Magazine, No. 3, November 1835, pp.

112-4.) . ' „

Generally speaking, the Free Emigrants are either men who
have been reduced, by misfortunes or imprudence, from wealth to
comparative poverty; or those who, although they have never
possessed wealth, are yet eager to realise their expectations of
acquiring it: — expectations, which perhaps erroneous represent-
ations, and a sanguine temperament, have alone led them to
entertain. All are poor, at least in proportion to their views of
aggrandizement; for we believe few leave their native land, to
settle in another, who either possess a competency, or have no other
object in view than to earn a mere subsistence. To make a fortune,
therefore, or at least to better themselves in a pecuniary point of
view, is the aim of all; nor do we deny that it is a laudable one.
Their previous conceptions, however, of the mode in which this is

436 SEL|.CT bOGUMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

to be done^tare frequently vague and unformed; and their know-
ledge of the difficulties they have to encounter is very imperfect;
while their pecuniary means are generally inadequate to the end
in view. •

Men so circumstanced, and actuated by such motives, are not
likely to be deficient in enterprise, and industry; though, perhaps,
not always Judiciously or perseveringly exerted. But it were
unreasonable to suppose, that Science and Literature would under
such •a state of things be generally cultivated; and without these
it were perhaps equally unreasonable, to look for a high standard
of National character. Yet even a money-making and illiterate
population may be distinguished by candour, integrity, and
sobriety. . . -

Next to the engrossing desire of wealth, considered as affecting
the morals of the Community, we may class the love of tavern-
haunting and tippling. The number of taverns, which exist and
continue to multiply around us, is but too convincing a proof of
the existence of these vices, which we fear will out-last the causes
in which they probably originated; — namely, the want of domestic
comfort, and female society. It is to be hoped, however, that drunk-
enness will not continue to be a pervading vice, even amongst
the lowest classes, in a Country in which the wealthy may possess
all the luxuries, and many of the intellectual enjoyments of
civilized life, — in which all who are able and willing to work, can
procure employment, and in which every industrious and sober
individual, can live in comfort and independence.

We have already observed, that we consider the too engrossing
pursuit of riches as prejudicial to the cultivation of science and
literature ; and that the means occasionally employed in the
Colonies to acquire it, are too frequently subversive of candour and
integrity. We may add that, in a money-making community, the
shame of poverty is often more powerful than the fear of it.
Heiic? arises on the part of many individuals a display of
opulence, which their real circumstances are far from justifying.
Hence also, those incongruities in buildings, furniture, dress, and
equipage, which we fear cannot fail to strike the observant stranger.
This love of display, so inconsistent with the character and situation
of settlers in a new country, may indeed have partly originated,
in each wishing to impress upon his neighbour a due sense of his
previous circumstances, and standing in society. But, whatever the
cause, the effect is too apparent.

50. Why Settlers did not Engage Married Men with. Families.
1843 c.

(Ev. of J. P. Robinson (a bank director) to Select Committee

tcONOMIG AND SOCIAL CONDITION^ 437

on Petition from Distressed Mechanics and Labosurers, p. 27.
P. and P. of the Legis. Com, of N.S,W, 1843.)

This objection [i.e. to employing married men \\^h families]
arises from the present unsatisfactory tenure by which Crown
Lands are occupied; and until they are placed on somewhat of a
similar footing to Crown Lands in England, vJz., that the occupiers
can have some fixed period of tenure guarantee to them, not
subject to be turned off at the whim or caprice of the authorities,
it is impossible that anything of a social system can exist* in the
bush; the present is merely a species of encampment, and before
we can have married people and families, we must erect comfortable
cottages, with fenced-in gardens, &c., for them, which no settler
in his senses would think of doing under present circumstances.

51. The Case for a Political Oligarchy. 1849.

(Gamma: “Our Social Tendencies”. Australia Felix Monthly
Magazine^ 1849, pp. 17-18.)

This age has witnessed the misery and destruction arising from
giving political power to men unfit to exercise it. From these
considerations we may derive an instructive lesson. The present
circumstances of this country point to some form of government
in which the aristocratic element should form a large ingredient
— and some such form it would no doubt assume were it an indepen-
dent state. The investment of the capital of the country in pastoral
pursuits, the physical necessities which have led to that result,
and the mode in which these pursuits are carried on — this system
being also the consequence of physical aptitudes — all these lead
to this conclusion. The pastoral proprietor — -‘a man of education
and leisure, the possessor of large capital, the employer of much
labour, habituated to the daily control of his numerous
dependents, influencing by his example a large circle of acquaint-
ances — naturally occupies a position of social and political
importance. The merchant carrying on extensive operations,
having much capital invested, from the very nature of his
occupation necessarily a man of education, and acquainted with
the commercial and political relations of the different parts of the
earth — forms a fitting associate. To these may be added, the more
respectable inhabitants of the towns, including the men eminent
in the different professions. When we remember that these classes
are placed amongst a population of mixed character, a large
portion of whom are without any fixed habitation, wandering from
station to station as they find employment, without having any
natural ties to restrain them, or giving to society any security for
the stability of their character — that amongst these are to be found

438 SELE|JT DbcUMENTS ‘IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

many emanc^ated felons fresh from the pollution of the hulks, or
the hypocrisy of the penitentiary, — taking this into consideration,
it is to be koped that the form of our new constitution will give
a political? expression to the natural weight which these classes
must undoubtedly possess.

52. MatesMp. ^830-40 c.

(A. Harris : Settlers and Convicts^ p. 326.)

There is a great deal of this mutual regard and trust engendered
by two men working thus together in the otherwise solitary bush;
habits of mutual helpfulness arise, and these elicit gratitude, and
that leads on to regard. Men under these circumstances often
stand by one another through thick and thin; in fact it is a universal
feeling that a man ought to be able to trust his own mate in anything.

SOURCES USED IN SECTION 8

A. Official Sources

1 . Bigge, J. T. : Report of the Commissioner of Inquiry on
the State of Agriculture and Trade in the Colony of
New South Wales. P.P. 1823, X, 136.

2. Historical Records of Australia, Series I and IV.

3. Report of the Select Committee on the State of Gaols.
P.P. 1819, VII, 575.

4. Report of the Select Committee on Colonisation from
Ireland. Sessional Papers of the House of Lords 1847, VoL
XXIII. ■

5. Report of the Sub-Committee of the Legis Coun. of N.S. W.
on the Interest Bill, 1834. V, and P, of the Legis. Coun.
ofN.S.W. 1832-7.

6. Report of the Select Committee on Immigration. V. and P.
of the Legis. Coun. ofN.S.W. 1835.

7. Report of the Select Committee on the Petition from
Distressed Mechanics and Labourers. V. and P. of the
Legis. Coun. ofN.S.W. 1843.

8. Report of the Select Committee on the Masters’ and
Servants’ Act. V. and P. of the Legis. Coun. of N.S.W. 1845.

B. Other Primary Sources

1. Anonymous: ‘‘The Australian Character”. Fan DiemerCs
Land Monthly Magazine, No. 3, November 1835.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL GONDiflONSi 439

2. Atkins, Reverend T. : The Wanderings of the Qlerical Ulysses,
1859.

3. Backjiouse, J. : A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies.
1843.

4. Bennett j F. D.: Narrative of a Whaling Voyage. 1840.

5. Callaghan, T. : Acts and Ordinances of fhe Governor and
Council of New South Wales.

6. Cheever, H. T. : The Whale and his Captors; or the %Vhale~
mards Adventures. 1850.

7. Goncourt, A. S. de, Comtesse Drohojowska: UAustralie^
Esquisses et Tableaux. 1869.

8. Cox, Mrs J. M.: Reminiscences. (MS. in Mitchell
Library.)

9. Cunningham, P. : Two Tears in New South Wales. 2 vols.
3rd ed., 1828.

10. Dumaresq Letters, 1825-38. (MSS. in Mitchell Library.)

11. Gamma: ‘‘Our Social Tendencies”. Australia Felix ^
Monthly Magazine, ]\m.c 1849.

12. Harris, A.: Settlers and Convicts. 1852.

13. Irwin, F. C. : The State and Position of Western Australia. 1 835.

14. Lancelot!, F. : Australia As It Is: its settlements, farms, and
goldfields, 2 vols. 1852.

15. Lang, J. E).: Cooksland in North-Eastern Australia. 1847.

16. Malone, R. E. : Three Tears^ Cruise in the Australasian
Colonies. 1854.

17. Moore, G. F.: Diary of Ten Tears" Eventful Life of an Early
Settler in Western Australia. 1 834.

18. Newspapers:

{a) The Hobart Town Gazette.

[b) The Port Phillip Patriot.

{c) The Sydney Gazette.

{d) The Sydney Morning Herald.

19. Ogle, N. : The Colony of Western Australia. 1839.

20. Stops, F. : Statutes of Tasmania from 7th George 4th to 46th
Victoria. 1885.

2 1 . Therry, R. : Reminiscences of Thirty Tears" Residence in New
South Wales and Victoria. 1863.

440 sel:5'GT documents- in Australian history

Appendix

A NOTE ON SOURCES ^

I. BIBLIOGRAPHIES

A, General cBibliographies

1. Cambridge History of the British Empire, Vol. VII, Pt 1, pp. 647-
§6. 1933.

This contains:

{a) The manuscript sources and official papers and public-
ations in Great Britain.

(b) A select list of Parliamentary Papers.

(r) A select list of Parliamentary Debates.

{d) The collections of manuscripts in all the Public Libraries
of Australia. (This list is complete up to 1931. For the
accession of manuscripts to the Public Libraries from
1940 see Historical Studies: Australia and Mew Zealand.)
ie) A list of the official publications of the Parliaments
of Australia.

(/) A list of bibliographies, encyclopaedias and guides
to materials.

{g) A list of the periodical publications of historical and
other societies.

(A) A list of general histories, works of historical interest
and biographies.

2. Index to Reports of Commissioners on Colonies and Emi-

gration, 1812-47. Parliamentary Papers 1847.

3. General Index to the Accounts and Papers, Reports of Commis-

r sioners, etc., 1801-52. Parliamentary Papers 1853.

4. General Index to the Reports of Select Committees, 1801-52.

Parliamentary Papers 1853.

5. Adam, M. I., Ewing, J., and Munro, J. : Guide to the Principal

Parliamentary Papers relating to the Dominions, 1913.

6. Ferguson, J. A.: Bibliography of Australia, Vol. I, 1784-1830,

1941.

7. 'Ferguson, J. A,: Bibliograply of Australia, Yol. II, 1831-8. 1945.

8. Lewin, E.: Subject Catalogue of the Library of the Royal Empire

Society, Vol. II: Australia, New Zealand etc. 1931.

For a list of bibliographies see the Cambridge History of the British
Empire, Vol. VII, Pt 1, p. 682.

441

£?C0N0MIG and social CONDITIONS'

B. Special Bibliograpliies*

1 . The British Background

{n) The bibliography in E. O’Brien: The Foundation of

'Australia, pp. 409-25. 1937.

{b) The bibliography in B. Fitzpatrick: British Imperialism
and Australia, pp. 382-3. 1939.

2. - The First Settlements

There is no comprehensive bibliography on this topic. The
student can explore the sources referred to at the end of the section,
and then consult both the manuscript and printed books catalogues
of the Mitchell Library.

3. Transportation

There is no printed bibliography on this topic. The most complete
list of the material available is listed in both the manuscript and
printed books catalogues of the Mitchell Library under the subject
titles of ^'Convicts” and ‘‘Transportation”.

4. Immigration

The bibliography in R. B. Madgwick: Immigration into Eastern
Australia, 1937.

The manuscript catalogue of the Mitchell Library is also useful
for this subject.

5. Land Policy

The bibliography in S. K. Roberts: History of Australian Land
Settlement, pp. 402-21. 1924.

6. The Squatters

The bibliography in S. H. Roberts: The Squatting Age in Australia,
1835-1847, pp. 439-44. 1935.

7. Constitutional History

(a) The bibliography in E. Sweetman: Australian Constitutional
Development, pp. 444-8. 1925.

{h) The bibliography in A. G. V. Melbourne: Early Constit-
utional Development in Australia: Mew South Wales, 1788-
1856, pp. 433-9. 1934.

8. Economic and Social Conditions

The bibliography in B. Fitzpatrick: British Imperialism and
Australia, pp. 382-6. 1939.

Here again the best introduction to the subject is to consult the
manuscript and printed books catalogues of the Mitchell Library
under such titles as: Banking; Whaling; Farming; Communications
Population; Masters and Servants, etc.

442 SELE^GT DfOGUMENTS ,IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

IT. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS

1. Historical Records of Mew South Wales. 7 Vols.

These??cover the history of Australia from its discovery by the
white man up to 1811. For the period covered they contain more
information than the Historical Records of Australia.

2. Historical Records of Australia^ Series I, 26 vols. 1914-25.

These volumes contain the dispatches between the Governor

of New South Wales and the Secretary of State for the Colonies
from 1787 to December 1848. It should be noted that the editor.
Dr F. Watson, deleted some of this material.

3. Historical Records of Australia^ Series III, 6 vols. 1921-3.

These volumes contain documents on :

[a) The Port Phillip settlement, 1803-4.

{b) The history of Tasmania, 1803-27.

{c) A selection of the Tasmanian evidence to Commissioner
Bigge.

{d) The history of the Northern Territory, 1823-9.

{e) The settlement at Western Port, Victoria, 1826-7.

(/) The history of Western Australia (King George’s Sound
and Swan River), 1826-30.

4. Historical Records of Australia^ Series IV, 1 vol. 1922.

This contains documents illustrating the legal history of New
South Wales and Tasmania, 1787-1828.

5. Australian Discovery by Sea. Edited, with an introduction, by
E. Scott. 1929.

This contains documents from the voyages of Torres and de
Quiros to Flinders.

6. Australian Discovery by Land. Edited, with an introduction, by
E. Scof.. 1929.

This contains documents illustrating the exploration of Australia
from the time of Blaxland to Stuart.

7. Some Early Records of the Macarthurs of Camden. Edited by
S. M. Onslow. 1914.

This contains documents illustrating the early history of the
wool industry. It also contains some useful material on social life
in Sydney in the early period.

8. Historical Records of Port Phillip : the first annals of the colony of
Victoria. Edited byj. J. Shillinglaw. 1879.

This is a collection of documents illustrating the history of the

443

nCONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS'

settlement at Port Phillip in 1803. They were first published in the
Victorian Parliamentary Papers^ 14 August 1878.

9. Letters from Victorian Pioneers. Edited by T. F. Bride?. 1898.
These letters are very useful for the early history of squatting

in Victoria.

10. A Source Book of Australian History. Edited ?by Gwendolen
H. Swinburne. 1919.

This contains documents on the history of Australia to 1914,
from the discovery of Tasmania by Tasman in 1642.

11. Select Documents on British Colonial Policy ^ 1830-1860. Edited by
K. N. Bell and W. P. Morell. 1928.

These documents illustrate the history of colonial policy for all
the British colonies of that period. The topics covered are Self-
government; Colonization; Transportation; Slavery and the
Plantation System; Native and Frontier Policy in South Africa
and New Zealand.

The documents are preceded by a lively and stimulating intro-
duction.

Index

Aborigines, Banks on, 26; clashes of,
with Europeans, 51, 53, 66-8, 89,
288-90, 298-300; Phillip on, 65-6;
Tench on, 68-9; at Port Phillip,
90-2, 93; Batman’s treaty with,
90-2, 93

Adelaide, life in, 426
Agars, T., 161
Agriculture, See Farming
Akerman, R., 22-3
Angas, G. F., 203-4
Anstey, G. A., 376-7
Anti-Transportation League, 162-3
Arthur, Sir George, 140, 142, 148-9
Assignment system, 128-33. See also
Convicts, Transportation
Australia, possession taken of, 25-6;
naming of, 26 (n)

Australian Colonies Government Act
(1844-50), 351-2, 365-85
Australian Patriotic Association,
329-30

Backhouse, J., 426-8
Bailey, T. B., 22
Baker, J., 377

Bank of New South Wales, creation
of, 388-9

Banking, 87, 388-9
Banks, jS'zr Joseph, 26-7
Barrington, G., 55-6
Bathurst, Lord, 308, 315-8
Batman, J., 90-2, 95
Baynton, Dr, 99

Behaviour, of convicts 47, 48, 52-5,
108, 109, 118, 119, '120, 122, 131,
133, 141, 142; and the case for a
political oligarchy, 372-3, 437-8;
of upper classes, 412-13 ; of workers,
412-13; and drinking habits, 428-9,
432, 436 ; of currency lads, 434-5 ; of
free immigrants, 436
Bettington, J. B., 329
Bigge, J. T., 112-13, 115-17, 118-19,
124-8, 136, 138-40, 146-7, 219(n),
221-2, 317-18, 388-9, 395-6, 397,
398-9, 399-400, 410-11, 434-5
Bills, reservation of, 339,383
Bland, Dr, 248, 329 (n), 330
Blaxland, J., 248, 274(n)

Bloxsome, O.-ai 249
Blyth, W., 377
Boon, J., 31

Botany Bay, Banks on, 26-7; Pitt
Government’s plan for settlement
at, 34-7; objections to, 37-8, 72;
arrival at, 43-5; behaviour of
natives at, 65-6; Pitt on the
conditions of the settlement at,
69-70

Bounty system. See Immigration
Bourke, Sir Richard, 92-3, 94-7, 123,
140, 153. 326-8, 390
Bowman, W., 98
Boyd, B., 248, 361
Breton, Colonel, 141
Brown, Captain, 99
Brown, J., 377
Buller, C., 365 (n)

Bulwer, L., 329, 333

Judge, 153(n), 391(n)
Bushrangers, 78, 291

Cameron, D., 100
Charter of Justice (1814), 304 (n)
Cheyne, Captain, 165
Chief Justice, powers of, 320, 324-5
Chisholm, Caroline, 192, 198-200,
416

Civil jurisdiction, creation of court
of (N.S.W.), 303-4
Classes and class relations, 257, 410-15
Cochrane, Hon. 61
Coghill, W., 98
Collins, D., 75-7

Constitutional development. See under
States headings and under Respon-
sible government

Convicts, decision to renew trans-
portation of, 28-30, 33-4, 39-41;
Africa as a receptacle for, 30-1;
recommendations for the disposal
of, 31-3; plans for settlement of, at
Botany Bay, 33-8, 40-1 ; order for
transportation of, 39-40; journey of,
to Australia, 42-3, 44, 55-6, 110-15;
numbers and costs of, 42-3, 72-3;
behaviour of, 47, 48, 52-5, 108, 109,
118, 119, 120, 122, 131, 133, 141,
142; female, 48, 114-20, 134-5;

.INDEX

settlement of, on Norfolk Island,
74; plans for settlement of, at
Moieton Bay, 77-9; life of, on
hulks, 10S>-9; selection of, 109-10,
121, 14^; distribution of, 115-17;
in Van Diemen’s Land, 119-20;
punishment of, 121, Ji^O-l, 142-53;
in government service, 121-4,
127-8;* living ^nditions of, 124-6;
on farms, 126-7, 132; and the
assignment system, 128-33, 155-6,
160-1, 234, 270, 278-80, 419-20;
and tickets of leave, 133-6; pardons
for, 137; and the chain gang,
140-1; abolition of transportation
of, to New South Wales, 156(n);
and the probation system, 156-9;
contribution of, to the Australian
language, 166(n); law against
transportation of, to South Austra-
lia, 208, 355. See also Transportation
Cook, J., 25-6, 66
Cowper, G., 249

Crime, 10-18; in England, 10, 22,
31-2, 33-4; increase in, 10, 15-16,
22, 23, 31, 144, 331 ; and the death
penalty, 13-14; and juries, 15,
17-18; transportation for, 104-5,
106; decrease of, 150(n); in
Sydney, 153, 154-6, 331; press
reports of, 419-20. See also Prisons,
Transportation

Criminal courts, 48, 302-3, 307-8,
311-12

Grown Lands Commissioners, 255,
273, 294-5

Cunningham, P., 113-14, 277-8, 398,
411,422-3, 435

Gurr, E. M., 272-3, 274-6, 281-2,
283-7, 294-7, 299-300
Gurrer!»»y men, 410, 411, 434-5
Customs duties, 312, 378-9, 381-2

Dairy farming. See Farming
Dalrymple, A., 37-8
Darvall,J. B., 161
Davenport, S., 376-7
Davis, A. H., 376-7
Denison, Sir William, 372-3
Disallowance of laws, 320-1, 325-6,
339-40

Dobie, Dr. 249
Dress, 423, 429, 436
Drought, 291

Drunkenness, 8, 9, 88, 122, 258
428, 432, 436

Dumaresq, W., 249
Duties. See Customs duties
Dutton, F. S., 376

Education, 88, 143
Elder, G., 376-7 [382-3

Electoral system, 335-7, 340 (n), 379,
Emancipists, 413; life of, 137-8;
failure of, as farmers, 138-9;
opposition to, 139-40; land to be
granted to, 2 1 9 ; the case for, 308-9 ;
Macquarie’s policy for, 310-11;
petition from, for abolition of
disabilities, 313-14; petition from,
for a representative assembly,
332-4; and the composition of the
Legislative Council, 326-8; results
of encouraging, 328-9; James
Macarthur’s appeal to, 334; and
“exclusives”, 413-14
Enclosures, 1-2, 4, 9
England, eighteenth-century, social
and economic conditions of, 1-22
Ex-convicts. See Emancipists
“Exclusives”, 322(n), 326-8, 330-2,
Expirees, life of, 137-8 [413-14

Farming, 397-404; convicts and, 54,
56-7, 126-7; and the need for free
settlers, 63-5 ; in the first five years
of New South Wales, 70-1 ; eman-
cipists and, 138-9, 398; in South
Australia, 210-12, 213, 402-4;
wheat, 212, 398-9, 400-4; in New
South Wales, 223-4, 257-8, 397,
398-9; and the Lien on Wool Act,
392; crop failures in, 398-9; in
Van Diemen’s Land, 399-400; in
Western Australia, 400-2; and the
Ridley threshing machine, 402-3;
dairy, 403-4

Federation, case for, 370, 371, 374-6

Fielding, H., 7, 10, 18, 23

Finance, 388-92

First Fleet, 41-4

Fisher, J. H., 375, 377

Fishing, 27, 46, 86

Fitzroy, Sir Charles, 364

Food, 56, 57-8, 60, 61-2

Forbes, Sir Francis, 142, 389 (n), 391

Forbes Act (1834), 389-91

Foster, E., 184

Foster, W., 249

Franchise, 379 [Immigration.

Free settlers. See Immigrants,
Fremantle, life in, 426-8

INDEX 447

Gipps, Sir George, 227-8, 244-6,
250-2, 258, 328(n), 364(n)

Glenelg, Baron (C.G.), 231-2
Godericb, Lord, 222-5
Gore, R., 248

Governors, powers of, 39, 82-4, 305-7,
314-15, 346-8
Graham, R., 249
Greenway, H., 140
Greeves, A. F. A., 364
Grey, Earl, 256, 367-70, 373-5, 376,
377

GrifEn, Captain, 276-7
Griffin, Dr, 100
Grimes, C., 89-90
Gumin, J., 90-2

Hanson, R. D., 377
Harris, A., 257-8, 272 (n), 278-80, 288,
294, 412-13, 428-9, 432-4
Harrison, J., 99
Hipkiss, R., 330

Hobart, foundation of, 75-7; life m,
423-4

Hobler, 133, 280, 288-9, 292, 293-4
Hogan, 271-2
Hospitality, 429-32
Howard, J., 19, 23, 107-8
Hulks, 106-10
Hutchinson, W., 330

Immigrants, free, need for, 50, 63-5;
assisted, 63-5, 179-80, 181-5, 190;
for Western Australia, 80-1 ; quality
of, 155, 194, 210-11; selection
of, 180-1, 193, 196-7, 208-9; female,
182-4; reception of, 197, 198-200;
as land-owners, 201-2; statistics of,
214-15; altitude of Australian-born
to, 411. See also Immigration
Immigration, Britain and, 170-1,
181-3, 190-1, 213, 223; Wakefield
on, 174-81; Indian labour and,
174; and the sufficient price of
land, 174; land sales and, 179-80;
government control of, 181-3; and
free passages, 182-5; bounty system
of, 185-8, 190(n), 192, 198;

comparison of government and
bounty systems of, 188-90; organiz-
ation ofi 193(n) ; of paupers, 193(n) ;
use of land fund for, 195-6;
Caroline Chisholm and, 198-200;
statistics of, 214-15. See also
Immigrants

Industrialism, growth^ of, 6 ; and
town life, 7 ; in Birmingham, 8
Insularity, 435
Interest rate, 389-90
Ireland, 170-3; poverty -in, 172-3;
need for migration from, 1 72-3

Jails. See Priscms
Jamison, J., 311-12,"329, 334
Johnson, Rev. R., 53
Juries, 17-18; trial by, 307-8, 311-12,
321-2, 326(n), 331, 333, 343-4
Justice, administration of, 15, 314(n),
318-21, 322-6, 382-3

Kemble, F., 249

King, P. G., 74-5

King George’s Sound, 79 (n)

Kingston, G. S., 375, 377

Labour, employers and, 160-1, 173,
234, 257, 278-80, 412-13; scarcity
of, in the Australian colonies, 160-1,
173-5, 202, 349-50: contracts for,
199, 415-16; and the working-class
organization, 202 (n), 413-15; and
the Masters and Servants Acts,
416-19, 420-2

Labour movement, development of,
413-15

Land, grants of, 48(n), 218-23;
improvements to, 221-2, 242-3;
sales of, 223-5,228-30, 231-2,235-7,
239, 252-6, 258-64, 338-9; uniform
price for, 223-5, 231-2, 239-42;
limits of location of, 226-7, 245-6 ;
dispersion of, 227-8, 244-5, 260,
263 ; members offerees and, 229-30 ;
leases of, 230, 232-5, 237-9, 245-7,
252-6; unsettled districts of, 232-5,
254-5; licences for, 232-5,^^237-9,
245-7, 250-6; in settled ffistricts,
237-9, 253-4, 255-6; security of
tenure of, 242-3, 244, 262; policy,
opinions on, 248-9, 250-2, 258-64;
monopoly of, 250-2, 256, 257,
262-4; Order-in-Council relating
to, 252-6, 258-64; intermediate
districts of, 254; in Western
Australia, 38-9. See also Squatters.
Lang, Rev. Dr J. D., 193(n), 276-7,
361

La Perouse, M., 65
Larnach, D,, 161
Latrobe, C., 100-1, 159(n)

Lawson, W., 249

448

INDEX

Legislative /^louncil, of South
Australia, 204-8, 351-3, 355-7; case
for, 306-7; of New South Wales,
306-8, 31B--21, 322-40, 375, 378-9;
case against, 308 ; of Western
Australia, 346-8, 380-1, 382, 383;
and the Australian polonies Gov-
ernment Act /1850)', 365-7, 368,
371, 373, 380 ^

Leichhardt, Dr W., 274
Leisure, 283-7, 423, 428-35
Lien on Wool Act (1843), 391-2
Local government, 367-71
Lonsdale, Captain W., 94, 97, 101
Lord, S., 140

Macarthur, F., 256
Macarthur, Captain 140, 267-70
Macarthur, J., 130, 328-9, 330(n), 334
Macintyre, P., 330
McLeay, A., 93, 94, 111, 188, 230
Maconochie, A., 142-4, 165(n)

Macquarie, Governor L., 117, 139-40,
147, 221, 310-11, 312-13
Macqueen, T. P., 80-2
Manly Cove, naming of, 66
Mansfield, R., 330
March, M. H., 297-9
Married men, and the occupation of
Crown lands, 437
Marsden, Rev. S., 145
Masters and Servants Acts, 416-19;

cases under, 420-2. See also Labour
Materialism, 435-6
Meehan, J., 140

Melbourne, 89-90, 97-8; life in, 424-6
Mitchell, Sir T. L., 98, 274
Mollison, A., 99
Montefiore, J. B., 376, 391
Moreton Bay, penal settlementat, 77-9
Morgues, 391-2
Mudie, A., 146 (n)

Mutual Protection Society, 413-15

Nepean, E., 30

New South Wales, first settlements in,
25-73; possession taken of, 25-6;
powers of governor of, 39, 305-6,
314-15; first attempts at culti-
vation in, 56-7, 61-2, 63; food
rationing in, 58, 60-1 ; and the
need for free settlers, 63-5 ; attitude
of aborigines of, 65-9 ; Pitt on,

69- 70; state of, after five years,

70- 2; doubts as to value of settle-
ment at, 72-3; convict population

of, 121, 123, 129, 140, 141, 146;
emancipists in, 139-40, 308-9,

310-11, 313-14, 326-9, 330-4;

abolition of transportation to,
156(n); creation of criminal court
in, 302-3, 307-8, 311; creation of
court of civil jurisdiction in, 303-4;
Legislative Council in, 306-8, 318-
21, 322-40, 375, 378-9; trial by
jury in, 307-8, 31 1-12, 32 1-2, 326(n) ;
petitions from, 311-12, 321-2,
330-2, 332-4; representative gov-
ernment in, 311-12, 321-2, 326-8,
330-4; state of settlements in,
315-17; powers of Chief Justice of,
320, 324-5 ; disallowance of laws of,

320- 1, 325-6, 339-40; parties in,

321- 2, 326-8; “exclusives” in,

322 (n), 326-8, 330-2; electoral
system in, 335-7, 340 (n), 379,
382-3; district councils in, 335 (n),
369-70, 371; interest rate in,
389-90, 391; population of, 405,
410-11; attitude of upper classes in,
to workers, 412

New South Wales Corps, 49, 60-1
New Zealand, 36, 37
Newenham, G. B., 377
Newspapers, 419-20, 423, 426, 430
Nicholson, G., 361
Nicholson, Dr, 249
Norfolk Island, penal settlement at,
74, 141-4

Northern Territory, 101 (n)

O’Connell, M. G., 249
Oxley, J., 274(n), 397

Parramatta, 62, 118-19
Peacock, W. M., 376
Peel, T., 80-2, 175-6
Penal code, 13-14

Penal reform, experiments in, 156-9
Penal settlements, 24-102, 141-4
Perth, 79-89 ; life in, 426-8
Petitions, for redress of grievances,
311-12; for abolition of disabilities,
313 ; for representative government,
321-2; by exclusives, 330-2; by
emancipists, 332-4; by Western
Australian settlers, 348-50; by
South Australian settlers, for repre-
sentation on Legislative Council,
352-3; by Port Phillip representa-
tives 362-4

INDEX

449

Phillip, Captain A., 39-40, 42, 44-6,
47-8, 51-2, 53, 54-5, 56-7, 61-6,
70-2, 218, 219, 220, 305-6
Pitt, W. (the Younger), 69-70
Poole, D., 330

Population, surplus, in Great Britain,
170-1; of New South Wales, 405,
410-11; of Van Diemen’s Land,
407; of Port Phillip District, 409;
of Western Australia, 409; of South
Australia, 410; convict, of New
South Wales and Van Diemen’s
Land, 121, 123, 129, 140, 141, 406
Port Arthur, 141-2
Port Jackson, selection of a site at,
44-5; Watkin Tench on, 46-7
Port Phillip District, Collins on
settlement at, 76; settlement of,

88- 90, 92-3, 94-7, 100-1; in 1803,

89- 90; government of, 92-7, 100;
recognition of, 94 ; Bourke’s impres-
sions of, 94-7; New South Wales
squatters move into, 98-100;
Latrobe appointed to, 100- 1;
electoral districts in, 335-6; separa-
tion of, from New South Wales,

358- 64, 369, 373, 377-8; establish-
ment of legislature in, 373; petit-
ions from, 358-61 ; revenue of, 358,

359- 60, 361 ; population of, 409
Poverty, in Britain, 2-8, 9, 11, 171;

in Ireland, 172-3

Prisons, conditions in, in England,
18-21; food in, 19-21; disease in,
20-1; overcrowding in, 22, 33;
morals in, 21-2
Probation system, 156-9
Pulteney, W., 38 (n)

Queensland, 384. See also Moreton
Bay

Redfern, W., 139, 310(n), 314
Religion, 88, 143, 331, 332
Responsible government, 311-12,
326-8, 368-70; petitions for, 321-2,
331-4, 343-5, 352-3; in Western
Australia, 346, 350-1 ; in South
Australia, 352-4, 375-7; advocated
in New South Wales, 365-7;
principles of, 367 ; Grey’s proposals
on, 367-71, 373-7; Denison on,
372-3

Ripon, Earli See Goderich, Lord
Robinson, J. P., 249, 361, 412, 436-7
Robinson, M., 140

Schenley, E. W, H., 80-2

Second Fleet, 59-60, 170-11

Sheep, 71, 267-71; losses of, 48, 57;

droving of, 2SI-2. See '^so W^ool
Shepherds, 277-80
Smeatham, H., 30-1
South Australia, immigration into,
203-14; Act establishing, 204-8;
and transportation, 208; constit-
ution of, 204-10, 351-2, 354-7;
Legislative Council of, 204-8, 351-2,
355, 357; Colonization Co'mmis-
sioners appointed for, 205-9, 261;
land sales in, 206, 261 ; housing in,
211; health in, 211; farming in,
211-13; petitions from, 352-3;
and representative got^ernment,
352-4, 373-4, 375-7 ; population of,
410

South Australian Company, 203-4
Squatters, 271-300; and the price of
land, 242-3, 250-2, 283, 291,

296- 9; and profits, 250-2, 292-3,

297- 300; Gipps and, 244-6, 250-2;
and the land laws, 237-9, 244-6,
248-52; stores for, 271-2; and the
selection and preparation of runs,
272-3; as pioneers, 273-4; typical
homesteads of, 274-7; and the life
of the shepherd, 277-8; servants of,
280; and droving, 281-2; and the
fencing of paddocks, 282-3; leisure
occupations of, 283-7 ; loneliness of,
286; appearance of, 286-7; dangers
and hardships of, 288-94; aborig-
ines and, 288-90; and bushrangers,
291 ; and drought, 291 ; and finan-
cial depression, 292. See also Land.

Stanley, Lord, 144, 156-9, 239(n), 357
Statistics, of migration from British
Isles, 214; of migration ^ Van
Diemen’s Land, 215; of migration
to New South Wales, 215(n). See
also Population
Stephens, E., 377
Stephens, J., 314-15
Stephens, S., 329, 332 (n)

Stiles, Rev, H., 142
Stirling, Sir George, 79
Stocks, S., 377
Sutherland, B., 413-15
Swan River. See Western Australia
Sydney, selected for settlement, 45;
description of, 45-7, 422-3 ; cultiva-
tion of land in, 47, 48, 56-7, 62, 63,
70-1 ; mortality in, 51 ; rationing in.

450

INDEX

51, 52-3, 57-9, 60, 61; arrival of
Second Fler:t in, 59-60, 110-11;
crime in, 153, 154-6, 331; life in,
422-3, 43§.-9, 435
Sydney, Lord^ 33, 38 (n)

Tasmania. See Van Diemen’s Land
Therry, R., 146(n), 1*89-90, 424-6,
429-31

Thomson, A., 90-2
Thomson, E. D., 235, 237, 239, 247
Tickets of leave, 133-6
Tingley, H., 131-2
Todd, W., 90-2
Toongabbie, settlement at, 62
Transportation, law relating to,
28-30, 104-5, 128(n), 133(n), 134-5,
137(n), 141, 164(n), 355; renewal
of, 28-30, 33-4, 39-41; to Africa,
considered, 30-3; lack of sites for,
31; results of, 32, 127-8, 130-1,
136, 146-53; America and, 32-3,
104, 107; to Botany Bay, 34, 37-8,
72-3; order for, 39-40; and the
journey to Australia, 42-4, 55-6,
110-15; Pitt on, 69-70; costs of,
72-3, 111-12, 129; opposition to,
72-3, 154, 161-3; crimes leading to,
104-6; and tickets of leave, 133-6;
expirees and, 137-8; emancipists
and, 137-40; and the chain gang,

140- 1; and the penal settlements,

141- 5; as a punishment and a cause
of reformation, 146-7; the opinion
of the 1838 Parliamentary Com-
mittee on, 152-3; Bourke on, 153;
support for, 154-6, 160-3, 165-6,
202 ; to New South Wales, abolition
of, 156(n); and the probation
system, 156-9; of “exiles”, 160(n);
effec^ of, on Australian society,
165-6; Western Australia and,
164(n), 349-50; South Australia
and, 208, 355. See also Convicts

Trial by jury, 307-8, 311-12, 321-2,
[326(n)

Ullathorne, Rev. Dr, 143
Usury, 389-90

Van Diemen’s Land, first settlement
in, 74-5 ; Collins and, 75-7 ;
migration to, 215; convict popu-
lation of, 119-20, 121, 123, 129,
140, 141, 408; regulations for
ticket of leave holders in, 135-6;
legal disabilities in, 340-1 ; and

separation from New South Wales,
342-3; petitions from, 342-5; and
trial by jury, 343-4; transportation
to, 345 ' and representative govern-
ment, 343-5 ; and the question of a
House of Assembly, 344-5 ; Denison
on constitution of, 372-3; interest
rate in, 390; agriculture in,
399-400; population of, 407
Vice, 138, 258; in Britain, 7-9;
amongst convicts, 118-20; and the
chain gang, 141 ; and the petition
by the exclusives, 331. See also
Crime

Victoria, creation of colony of, 369,
377-8. See also Port Phillip District
Vincent, F., 80-2

Wages, in England, 6, 8, 10; in New
South Wales and Port Phillip
District, 174-5, 199, 200-1, 202,
412, 415-16; in South Australia,
210-11, 426

Wakefield, E. G., 149-50, 173, 175-6,
177-81, 365 (n)

Walker, T., 249, 361
Waterhouse, G. M. 376
Wentworth, W. C., 248, 250 (n),
293-4, 308-9, 312(n), 329, 332(n)
Western Australia, advantages of, for
settlement, 79; instructions to take
possession of, 79-80, 82-4; Peel plan
for colonization of, 80-2; constitu-
tion of, 82-4, 345-8; powers of
governor of, 82-4, 346-8; social
conditions in, 84-9; criticism of
Peel’s settlement in, 175-6; and
transportation, 164(n), 349-50;
representative government in, 346,
350-1; establishment of Executive
Council in, 346; Legislative Coun-
cil of, 346-8, 380-1, 382, 383;
petitions from, 348-50 ; and the
Australian Colonies Government
Act, 351-2; agriculture in, 400-2;
population of, 409
Western Port, 101 (n)

Whaling, 86, 203, 392-6
Whately, Archbishop R., 151
Wheat farming. See Farming
Wool, early history of, 267-71; trade
in, 270-1; prices for, 271; lien on,
[391-2

Young, A., 8, 23
Young, A. W., 361
Young, Sir George, 31

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